Harry Potter and the Founding Four
by JTL2B2
Summary: Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts. He has more power than any other wizard in the world, so why can't he show his power? What is holding him back from stopping Voldemort?
1. Leaving Private Drive

Chapter 1: Leaving Private Drive

_**He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Attacks Ministry**_

_For the second time since his return, the Dark Lord attacked the Ministry of Magic. The attack was aimed at Aurors and the Minister of Magi, himself. The attack was a success in every way._

_Death Eaters were successful in killing five Aurors and twelve other employs. The biggest hit was the murder of the Minister, Cornelius Fudge. Bellatrix Lestrange was responsible for his death. He was already set to be replaced by Dolores Umbridge who was also killed in the attack. It is believed that the spot will now go to current Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt. Shacklebolt survived the attack and also managed to kill six of the nine Death Eaters that attacked. Lestrange escaped the attack._

Harry couldn't read anymore. How could there be a successful attack on the ministry where all of the most powerful wizards were supposed to be working. The signs weren't looking good for the side of the light in this war. It appeared now that nowhere was safe aside from possibly Hogwartz.

Thinking about this attack brought back the memories of the previous attack on the ministry. That had been completely his fault. He nearly got all of his friends killed along with himself and it did get his Godfather killed. His own laziness in dealing with occlumency was the reason that he had lost the only person that had ever taken the part of his father in his whole life. That was more than enough reason to get to actually studying occlumency and practicing it like he was supposed to be doing before. It had been just a couple weeks since the death of Sirius and Harry had already improved greatly. For the first time since joining the wizarding world, his scar no longer hurt. The dreams had stopped coming to him as well, which he was very thankful for. Ever since his trip to the ministry he had been reliving that night over and over again. Every night Sirius would stop right before he fell through and ask Harry to help him. Harry would run to him and every time right before he made it to Sirius, he would fall through the veil and all Harry could hear was the crazed laugh of Bellatrix Lestrange before waking up sweaty.

In truth part of the reason that he taken up occlumency was so that he would no longer have to think about what he had done. He didn't want to have dreams about that night and watch Sirius fall through the veil. The memories were starting to leave him and he was feeling loads better, almost like he had before his death, but then a story would come out like this one and refresh his memory. The reality of the situation was that he couldn't move on because deep down inside he knew that it was completely his own fault and he just couldn't forgive himself for what he had done.

The Prophet had run a story telling the story of Sirius's innocence but it didn't really make Harry feel any better. He knew that it would make Sirius feel better that people would finally realize that he had nothing to do with the death of two of his best friends but Harry was still sad because it was his fault that Sirius wouldn't get to experience life as a free man. He wondered every now and then what his parents would think of him. He was sure that they would be ashamed of how careless he had treated that situation. Nothing hurt him more than to think about his parents ashamed looks toward their only son. His thoughts were interrupted by the yelling of his uncle from downstairs.

"Potter get down here right now!" yelled his uncle. Harry obliged and walked into the family room to find the Dursley's waiting for him. "You are leaving tonight correct?" his uncle finished.

"Yes. They should be here in about ten minutes. I was just finishing up my packing." answered Harry.

"How are they coming?" His uncle's tone was still nasty but not as bad as it had been on the sentence before as he now started to realize how close the time was for Harry to be gone for another year.

"Probably apparating as its not really safe to be flying anymore."

"How?"  
"Don't worry about it alright. They will just be here and you will be just fine. They won't touch your fireplace so just buzz off!" snapped Harry.

"Watch your tone with me boy. I will not be spoken to like that in my own house by anyone let alone a freak like you!" yelled back Vernon while getting up and taking a step toward Harry. Dudley followed suit and Harry knew then that it was time for him to get out of the room before things turned nasty.

"Go to Hell. One day you will be thanking me for saving your life. Actually you won't, but either way I will have saved it along with numerous others and you will still think of me as a useless waste of space so just do me a favor and shut up." Harry yelled at his uncle before turning around and running back up to his room. He didn't really want to talk to him anymore for the next year. He opened the door to find that he would be leaving sooner than he thought as Mr. Weasley was already in his room waiting for him.

"Hello Harry. Good to see you again."

"You too. I just said good-bye to my aunt and uncle so I am more than ready to get out of here seeing as you seem to have already sent my things over."

"Is that what you call that? Didn't sound like a very family like good-bye to me," said Mr. Weasley. He had a look on his face of what Harry interpreted as pity. He hated when people took pity on him because of how he had grown up. Sure it had been horrible, but he didn't want people to feel bad for him. He just wanted to put it behind him.

"You know how things are between us. They hate the sight of me and always will and frankly I don't think a whole lot higher of them," replied Harry.

"Ok, Harry, just grab my arm and hold on tight. I'm going to be apparating us both to Grimmauld Place. I know that you don't want to go there but you must realize that it is the only safe spot for you. We will be there for you if you need someone to talk to. Now just don't let go of my arm. 1,2,3…"

The sensation was something that Harry had never experienced and in truth could deal with never feeling again. He was being pulled through what felt like an invisible, tiny tube. Then the sensation was suddenly over and he was staring right at Grimmauld Place, the only place he wanted to be at less than Private Drive. The summer just couldn't be short enough for Harry this year.


	2. Truth Be Told

Chapter 2: Truth Be Told

Harry entered the house to find nobody there waiting for him. He was slightly hurt that they weren't waiting for him but realized that they probably didn't know that Mr. Weasley had gone to get him yet. He decided that they must be upstairs waiting on him so he headed up the stairs to the room that he had stayed in the year before. He came to a sudden halt outside of his room when he heard his name spoken from the girl's room across the hall. He leaned against the door to listen in.

"When is Harry supposed to get here?" he heard Ginny asking.

"Soon and why are you so interested young Miss Weasley?" Hermione laughed.

"Shut up Hermione," snapped Ginny.

"Anyway, speaking of Harry, we are going to need to be careful with him this summer. He isn't going to like being back in this house after what happened at the ministry," came the worried sounding voice of Hermione.

"I know. I just wish that we could have heard what the prophecy had to say. It is obviously extremely important to this war. Maybe Dumbledore knows what it said," wondered Ginny.

"He couldn't since it wasn't made about him. He wouldn't have been able to lift it from the shelf." Harry chose now to enter the room causing both girls to scream.

"HARRY!"

"How are you doing?" Hermione asked him.

"I've been better. I hate this damn house. When I see that traitor of a house elf I am going to kill him with my bare hands." He snarled.

"I'll help you with that mate," Ron said from behind him. He entered the room past Harry and stood by Hermione. "Good to see you."

"You too. How's the scarring?" Harry asked referring to the scars from the brains in the department of mysteries.

"All gone now," he said showing Harry his arms. "Madame Pomphrey worked wonders on them."

"What were you saying about the prophecy and Dumbledore, Harry?" interrupted Ginny. Harry paled at her bringing that back up. He was hoping that they would just leave the topic once Ron came into the room. He still wasn't sure that he wanted to deal with their reactions to his horrible fate.

"It got smashed Ginny. Nobody will ever know what it said," Ron cut in. 'No,' Harry thought, 'he couldn't leave them thinking that. It would just make them angry with him when he did finally decide to let them in on the secret.'

"Maybe you should all sit down." Harry knew that this information was sure to shock them all greatly and probably scare them as well. Would Dumbledore even want him to tell them this information? He hadn't mentioned whether or not he should tell anybody what the prophecy said, but then again did he care? They were his friends and they had the right to know. "The prophecy in the department wasn't the only record of its message. The prophecy was originally told to Dumbledore so therefore he knows its full contents. Basically it said that Voldemort and I can only be killed by the other and that in the end one of us must die by the hand of the other." Harry told them all.

Ron and Hermione both seemed to go into shock. Ron's face was completely white and he hadn't moved a bit. Hermione had the same blank look on her face that Ron had but she also had a lone tear running down her cheek. Ginny was the only one that seemed to be able to keep her composure. She looked sad but wasn't in shock and wasn't crying.

"You just can't catch a break can you?" she joked. Her face no signs of telling a joke, however. "We will be here for you though Harry. Anytime you need help with anything or just someone to talk to; we are here for you." She finished more seriously.

"Of course we will. This is just so horrible. You have to either be killed or be a killer. There isn't a more unfair or worse fate out there. I am so sorry Harry." Hermione said coming back to her senses.

"Thanks a lot guys. It means a lot to me to know that my friends are by my side. You do realize the danger you will all be in though right? I don't blame any of you if you want to get away now." Harry told them. They weren't given the opportunity to answer though as Mrs. Weasley came into the room.

"Professor Dumbledore needs to speak with you in the kitchen Harry. It's good to see you again, dear."

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley," Harry said as he left the room to go meet with his headmaster. He figured that he wanted talk something about the prophecy and Harry felt his mood darken even a little more than it already had been when he walked into the house. He entered kitchen to see the old man smiling at him behind his half-moon spectacles.

"Good evening Harry. How was apparition?"

"It hasn't got anything on flying but its quickness." Dumbledore smiled at him.

"I have a couple of things I need to speak with you about. First off, Sirius put it in his will that this house would be given to you. I am asking that you allow me to continue on as secret keeper and allow the order to continue to use it."

"No problem there. I hate this house. You can have it for all I care," he said very darkly.

"The pain will leave eventually Harry. I know it is hard for you to be here but there is no other option as you now know why. Your protection happens to be the most important thing to our cause in this war, and for that I am sorry."

"I don't blame you. What else was it we needed to discuss, sir," said Harry wanting to change the subject quickly.

"I have made a very important discovery. It is another prophecy dealing with the defeat of Voldemort and as I promised you that I would hold nothing else from you, I am here."

"How did you discover it?" He was all of the sudden interested in this conversation. He wanted to get this whole Voldemort part of his life behind him as soon as he could and here Dumbledore had information that could help him.

"It was made a week ago and an unspeakable tipped me off to it. He showed me its contents knowing that it would help our cause. It deals with the Heir of Gryffindor. To sum it up, it says that the heir will play a vital role in the battle against Voldemort."

"But, sir, that doesn't really help me with anything. I already have you to help me and it doesn't tell me how to defeat Voldemort," said Harry, feeling his mood drop back down again.

"Thank you, Harry. You are quite correct in that this prophecy does not really tell us anything important but it did get me thinking and what I found is very important. I have discovered who the heir is."

"It would make sense for it to be you." Harry suggested.

"But in reality you are the heir. That is the importance of it. You the heir of Gryffindor will do battle against the heir of Slytherin as your ancestors did in their time."

"I can't be, sir. My father would have known if he was related to Gryffindor." How could he possibly be the heir of Gryffindor? In truth he was more of just hoping that he wasn't the heir. The last thing he needed at the moment was more attention put his way and this was sure to do that. Why did everything have to happen to him?

"Believe me you are. What was it that you pulled out of the sorting hat in your second year Harry? The sword of Gryffindor. That was a huge hint into the truth."

"But how does this really help me? I don't understand that."

"You will. You are going to have to trust me. Telling you wouldn't be the right thing to do. I would like the world to know about this though. It will strike even more fear into the heart of Voldemort for your ancestor defeated his."

"Voldemort will never fear me. I don't have the power that you do."

"He already does Harry. Why do you think he is constantly trying to kill you? Why do you think he tried to kill you before you could even speak? You are his largest threat and he knows it. Nothing scares him more than you do, especially when he learns this new information about you."

"Thank you, sir."

"And to do deal with your power, you will have lessons with me instead of regular Defense Against the Dark Arts. You will need to learn things that the rest of the students would not be able to handle for you do have more power than they."

"I am already looking forward to it, sir."

"I really must be going though, Harry. It has been a pleasure."


	3. A New Friend

Chapter 3: A New Friend

Harry left to go and find Ron and Hermione right after the meeting was over. He needed to tell them this new revelation about himself and see what exactly it meant because to him it was completely useless. He understood that it was a big deal to be the heir of Gryffindor just because of how important of a person he was, but it just didn't seem to be that important for the sake of the war. Then a thought struck his mind, what if this made Ron jealous of him again? He really didn't want to have to deal with that again. Maybe he should just keep this information to himself since it wasn't really that important anyway. No, he couldn't do that because Dumbledore was going to have it published in the Daily Prophet. He would just have to tell him and then hope for a little bit of luck. He walked into his room hoping to find Ron and Hermione waiting for him but instead it was Ginny. Why?

"How did it go?" Ginny ended the silence.

"Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"I don't know. They left right after you did and I couldn't find them but I figured that you would want to talk about the meeting so I came here to wait for you."

"Thanks. It was actually quite interesting but I don't see the importance of it quite yet. Dumbledore wouldn't tell me," he said still confused as to why she waited for him.

"What was it about?" She sounded excited now.

"A prophecy. It was about the heir of Gryffindor and defeating Voldemort."

"The heir of Gryffindor!" she screamed out. "Harry this is extremely important. There was a very old prophecy about the heir that said he would be the most powerful wizard that the world had ever seen. Is he supposed to help you or something?"

"That can't be though. Dumbledore must have been wrong then. There is a mistake…" he kept saying the same things over and over worrying Ginny.

"Harry, what is wrong? Wait a minute." She said putting two and two together. "You are the heir of Gryffindor aren't you?"

He didn't answer her. He just looked up and stared into her eyes and nodded.

"That is amazing. It does explain the sword in the chamber though, doesn't it? Why are you looking so worried? This is a good thing!"

"I'm not even the best wizard in my year let alone the best the world has ever seen; there is something wrong with that. Not to mention the fact that it is only going to bring me more damn attention, just another title to add on to the list for the Daily Prophet."

"Look I don't know the whole prophecy that was made but maybe Ron or Hermione do. We will ask them later. At the least Dumbledore will know so you can ask him when we get back to school. And you are the best wizard in the year, just not in class, there is a difference." She had no clue what to say about the attention. There was no denying it and she had no idea how to make him feel better about it.

"Thanks. Speaking of Dumbledore, I am having DADA classes with him instead of the normal class. He said I need to learn things that other people shouldn't learn, so you better watch your back when I'm around."

"You better keep yours turned when I'm around too then because I'll be in class with you. He told me earlier in the summer. I just don't understand why. I get why you are but not me."

"I'm sure he has a good reason. Like maybe he felt bad for you so he is giving you some charity." He joked.

"Shut up Harry!"

Deep down inside, Harry was wondering the exact same question as Ginny. He wondered what exactly Dumbledore was not telling them. He felt like it was getting to be more and more and that each one of them was probably intertwined somehow. He knew that there was something that Dumbledore knew about him that he didn't but now it seemed that the story was the same for Ginny. Was it possible that she would play as important of a role in this war as Harry would. After all she had survived Voldemort once. Then again maybe that was why she was going to be receiving extra attention.

"Harry, are you ok? You seemed to be a little bit out of it there." Ginny said bringing him right back to reality.

"Just thinking…"

"That Dumbledore is keeping something from us about me?" Ginny finished for him.

"How did you know I was thinking that?"

"Because it is exactly what I am thinking about. Oh well, he will tell us eventually."

"Hopefully before it is too late this time."

Ginny could here the sadness in his voice and see it in his eyes. She knew he was thinking about Sirius and it made her sad for him.

"It wasn't your fault. There was no way for you to know that vision was a fake." She put her arm on his shoulder for comfort.

"If I had practiced occlumency like I was supposed to be doing, I wouldn't have seen the vision at all." He snapped back at her.

"It isn't your fault every time somebody dies. Voldemort did all of this, not you. If you can't see that you are blind!" She said back, her voice getting a little louder as she was getting more frustrated.

"But Ginny, don't you get it? It is my destiny to kill Voldemort and I haven't done it yet because I haven't gotten myself ready. Therefore everybody that he kills when I should have already killed him is my fault. The only way that they live is if I can kill him. I have too save them and when I don't, I am failing them." He replied back quietly trying to get Ginny to calm down.

"Nobody blames you though! Sirius wouldn't blame you. Cedric wouldn't have blamed you. His parents don't blame you and yet you do. Everyone looks to you as a sign of hope that this war can end, their last hope. You don't need to blame yourself every time that somebody dies because you can't save everyone. If anything you have done would make Sirius ashamed of you, it is the fact that you are wallowing in self pity over his death and you know it!"

She left the room on that thought. Her words weren't meant to be hurtful and Harry knew that but they still were. The part that really hurt Harry was that he knew that she was right. He knew that it wasn't his fault that everyone around him died and that he was just being stupid, but it just seemed the easier thing to do. When he blamed himself for the death of Sirius, he didn't have to think about life without him, just the fact that he got him killed. He just focused on him going through the veil, not life after the veil. It hurt to think about what his life looked like now. He lost his father's best friend. He felt like he lost part of his parents all over again.

"Harry dinner is ready," came Mrs. Weasley's voice from the kitchen. He came down to find everyone already eating. He sat down in the only seat left, right beside Ginny.

"How come Sirius's mom didn't start screaming her head off?" asked Harry.

"Sirius had it removed after Christmas last year. Actually he had the whole wall removed and then replaced it just so he could get rid of her. He was very proud of that accomplishment I must say." Mr. Weasley answered.

"Are you doing ok with this Harry? Being back in this house has got to be hard." Mrs. Weasley asked in a worried voice.

"I'll be ok. After all Sirius wouldn't want me to 'wallow in my self pity' would he?" he said smirking as Ginny turned red. Everyone reached in for some more food so Harry took his chance and leaned in toward Ginny and whispered in her ear.

"Thanks, you were right about everything, I just needed to hear it out loud I guess." She smiled at him now knowing that he wasn't angry with her.


	4. OWLS

Chapter 4: O.W.L.S.

_Two Heirs of the Founding Four_

_Information has been found by the Daily Prophet that has led to the discovery of the heirs of both Gryffindor and Slytherin._

_Slytherin's is none other than He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Adding to the flavor of the story, Gryffindor's heir is Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived. This adds to the current duel between the two and may in fact show why Potter lived as a baby._

_As is well known, Slytherin was the first to start with the pure-blood/half-blood argument. Gryffindor argued with him over who should be allowed into Hogwartz and won, allowing all wizards to be accepted into the school. It could be that the Dark Lord cannot defeat Harry Potter because history won't let him. Like their ancestors before them, it may just be that Gryffindor is destined to win the battle. We can only hope for this to be the correct interpretation of the events._

When Harry came down to breakfast the next morning he knew something was up. Everyone, aside from Ginny, turned to look at him with a stunned and awed look on their faces.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" he asked.

"You're the heir of Gryffindor? Why didn't you tell us that?" Ron asked breathlessly, clearly in awe of the fact.

"I just found out yesterday and it slipped my mind last night, sorry," he added hastily.

"Slipped your mind? Harry, do you have any idea how important this is? Do you not understand what this means?"

"I think I have a good grasp on it. Voldemort is Slytherin's heir so now, like Gryffindor, I am 'bound by fate' to rid the world of him. It didn't tell me anything I didn't already know that I had to do."

"Aside from that, it is very important Harry! You have more power inside of you than anyone could possibly understand. A very old prophecy says so; you just have to find out how to release it. It said that you will be the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen. You just have to find some sort of 'missing link' to release. It said that you would have to find or realize something before you would receive your full power."

"I knew the power thing but not that last part. Ginny couldn't remember what the last part was when I told her yesterday after the meeting." He knew after he said it that he shouldn't have. Ron looked furious that he had shared this information with his little sister but not him, who had been his best friend for five years.

"You told her and not Hermione and me? I thought we were best friends Harry?"

"You weren't there when I was done and she was. I wanted to get it off my chest so I talked to her about it. You are still my best mate." Harry yelled back at him.

"Ok, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten mad. More importantly though, you have to find that missing link or we will never win this war. It is going to be the key piece to this puzzle."

"Hopefully Dumbledore will have an idea then because I don't. I don't want to think about it either because we aren't going to be able to figure it out by ourselves. I just want to relax with my friends this summer."

"Umm…can we eat now?" Fred had broken the conversation between the two and they both came back to the reality that they weren't alone in the room.

"Right…sorry." Said Harry and he sat down to eat with his head swimming with thoughts. He now knew what Dumbledore had wanted to tell him but decided not to. He, Harry, would be the most powerful wizard in the world once he found this missing link. What could it possibly be? What was something that he never had in his life? Love? Could it possibly be that he needed to find a love that he had never had in his life? That would make sense. Dumbledore had told him that it was his strength so why couldn't it be his missing link? Then again, it could be something that dealt with the history of his ancestors. There was a whole lot of history that seemed to be repeating itself just with different characters. Maybe he needed to discover more of what happened between Gryffindor, Slytherin, and the other two founders of the school.

He wouldn't worry about that now though. It would be Dumbledore's job for the summer. Harry just wanted to relax in what could be his last normal summer for awhile. After all Dumbledore didn't even want him to know this information so why should he look into it? Why didn't Dumbledore want him to know this though? He said he was done with keeping secrets from Harry, didn't he? He would just have to trust Dumbledore on this one despite his mistake just a year ago. Sure he made that major mistake, but Harry still did trust him above all others with things like this.

After breakfast Harry went up to his room to talk with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. He wasn't really looking forward to the obvious questions that he was going to be asked despite what he had told them about his summer plans, but he didn't have anything else to do and he didn't feel like being alone. He walked into the room and sat down on his bed beside Ginny and across from Ron and Hermione.

"Look, like I said earlier, I am what I am and I don't want to talk about it right now. I just want to relax."

"But what could the link even be? I already told you everything I know about the prophecy and none of it hints towards anything," said a downtrodden Ron. Harry was shocked at how little time it took for them to ignore the request he had just made not thirty seconds ago. He held his anger off in the hope that Hermione would now yell at Ron for being an insensitive prat.

"I know what you mean. If this is the key to winning the war then we really need to figure this out before it is too late." Hermione added. Now there was no hope if Hermione wouldn't take his side.

"Maybe you two should just leave if you can't do the one simple thing that Harry asked of you. Like you said Ron, we have no clue as to what it could be so why talk about it? Harry doesn't want to so just stop or leave," Ginny cut in for Harry. She had seen the annoyed face Harry put on as soon as Ron started talking. It was a shock to Harry that she had taken his defense but he still appreciated it very much. Perhaps he really needed to take some time to get to know the youngest Weasley.

"I'm sorry Harry. I'm just curious. I guess I just want this all over as soon as possible. How do you think you two did on your OWLS?" she changed the subject looking at Harry and Ron.

"I have no clue. I know that I have DADA with Dumbledore though. He told me that I needed to learn more advanced things than everyone else." He smiled at the envious looks on both Ron and Hermione faces. "Ginny has them with me." He added.

"Ginny? Why Ginny?" said a puzzled and put-out Ron.

"No clue. I guess Dumbledore thinks that I can handle it and that I need to know some of these things too. Maybe I am just better than you two." She joked with him.

"Oh, that's hilarious Ginny." Ron laughed sarcastically.

"Maybe she is right, Ron." Ron paled at that thought. Ginny laughed at his reaction. "There has to be some reason, doesn't there?" Harry finished, now trying to upset Ron. They were ironically interrupted by three owls coming in that looked to be caring the results of the just mentioned OWLS. Harry tore his open right away.

**Ordinary Wizarding Level Test Results**

**Mr. Harry James Potter**

Astronomy P

Care of Magical Creatures E

Charms E

Defense Against the Dark Arts O

Divination D

Herbology E

History of Magic D

Potions A

Transfiguration E

He had gotten six OWLS! That was certainly more than he had expected to get. Unfortunately, he had not gotten on O in Potions so his dream of becoming an Auror was now over. It seemed funny to him that he was destined to be the man to kill Voldemort and yet he wasn't good enough to get a job to track down his followers. The irony in that was just ridiculous.

"How did you do? Ron asked him.

"I got six and an O in DADA. You?"

"Same amount but no O. That means no more Potions! That's only five classes this year!"

"What about you Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"I passed them all! Eleven OWLS! Nobody has ever gotten that many before."

"That is amazing Hermione! I don't know why you weren't a Ravenclaw. You are the smartest witch to ever pass through Hogwartz, heck maybe smarter than her. I am glad that you weren't one though." She smiled and then gave her a friend a hug.


	5. Reminiscing

Chapter 5: Reminiscing

It had been a couple of weeks since the new discovery about Harry and things were finally starting to return to normal. The Weasleys had finally stopped giving him funny looks when he entered a room. He knew that those looks were ones that were hoping that he would be the one to finally end all of the terrible things that were going on in the world. He saw those looks for almost every person he met, except the Weasleys. It made him sad to think that they were acting just like every other person in the world when they had been anything but that to him. He was extremely happy that they had finally returned to normal.

The biggest change over the last couple weeks had been Ron and Hermione's attitude toward the whole situation. They had continued to do nothing but pester him with questions of what the missing link was and it was beginning to drive him crazy. He didn't care in the slightest bit whether they found out what this link was right now, he just wanted to enjoy what could be his last summer with his friends. They clearly didn't understand that concept and he was not going to drive it into their skulls to make them get it. He had been spending a lot of time with Ginny lately and while he did miss Ron and Hermione, she made him feel really happy and let him relax. She had been the only one to treat him the same through this whole ordeal and for that he was thankful. She had gained a ton of his trust with the way she acted when nobody else had been there for him. He was currently talking with her in the girl's bedroom as to stay away from Ron and Hermione who were downstairs.

"Do you think my life will ever just be normal?" he asked her.

"Things will go back to how they were, Harry. My family is finally starting to act normal again; Ron and Hermione will come around. Everything will be fine, I promise." She looked a little bit confused about what he meant by the question.

"I'm not just talking about them. I mean, they are the reason that I am thinking about it, but I know they will come around. I am talking about my life in general. I have never gotten to live a normal life and in all reality I don't think I am ever going to. Even if I somehow manage to kill Voldemort that will just make me more famous. Now this deal with me being the heir of Gryffindor will just add to it even more. I am so sick of being watched by every wizard in the world. I just wanted to be a normal kid but I can't even have that. My parents had to die and I still can't be normal." Ginny could tell he was starting to get worked about it so she cut him off before he could make himself feel worse.

"I know it isn't fair, but someone has to do what you are going to do. I know you didn't ask for that job and you probably don't want it, but you don't have a choice anymore. Everything would be different if you weren't who you are now. You wouldn't have met us on the platform and you might not even be friends with us now."

"Of course I would. How could you say that?"

"Harry, you wouldn't know any better. You met us on the platform and that is why Ron sat with you on the train. Had he not, you may not have been friends at all and then you wouldn't know any of us."

"We are both in Gryffindor. I would have met Ron and we would have become friends."

"Like you did with Dean, Neville, and Seamus you mean?"

"Point taken. Just don't think about it though."

"But you need to here this Harry. You need to understand that while some of the things in your life suck; there are a lot of good things in your life that you wouldn't have if things were different. Everything happens for a reason. Think about it. If you wouldn't have known any of us, when I went into the chamber you wouldn't have risked you life to save me. I would be dead, Harry!" Her eyes were starting to ball up with tears.

"Stop thinking about it Ginny! I get your point. I shouldn't be regretting what happened and the life that I have because it is the reason that I know all of you. I AM here and you AREN'T dead. I wouldn't trade that for anything, ok?" He had his arm around her now to comfort her. This was his fault. If he wouldn't have been brooding over the fate that he had been given, he wouldn't have made her think about all of this. She was now crying into his shoulder. "Everything is going to fine. I'm not going to let anything happen to any of you."

"Harry, I don't want to think of a life without you in my family. I'm sorry I broke down, I just couldn't stand the thought of not having you around."

They heard footsteps coming from the stairs.

"Quick, let's go." She grabbed his had and took off running up the stairs and into the last door in the hall. "I don't want to talk to them right now."

Harry finally realized what room they had entered. It was the attic that Sirius and he had talked to each other the most in during the last Christmas holiday. Buckbeak had been kept up in this room and they came here to be away from everyone else as they talked about anything and everything. His face must have visibly fallen.

"What's wrong?" asked a worried sounding Ginny,

"This is where Sirius and I came to talk and be away from everyone over Christmas." His voice was hollow and it was scaring Ginny.

"I am so sorry, Harry. I didn't know or I wouldn't have ever brought you here."

"It's not you fault. It's just bringing up a lot of memories from last year. I miss him so much." She could see the tears building up in his eyes and walked over to him and hugged him like he had done to her just moments before.

"It will get easier. I know you miss him a lot right now but I promise it will get easier."

They stood there like that for what seemed like and hour to Ginny. Finally he pulled away from her and she could see that he had been crying. His eyes were red and his face looked empty. Then all of the sudden he looked very nervous. He shouldn't be up here with his best friends little sister alone.

"I need to go. Thank you for being here for me. You are a real friend."

He left her alone in the attack to think about what just happened as he was now doing. He felt a lot better after what had just happened. Suddenly it was as if his heart was a little bit lighter, like he had let something off the heavy load he was carrying. He had been keeping his emotions about Sirius in for so long now and had finally let some of them out. Why had he just left Ginny though? She had just helped him in a way that nobody else seemed to be able and then he just left her. So what if she was Ron's sister. He wasn't exactly being much of a friend right now anyway. Sure he was a little bit embarrassed about crying in front of her but she wasn't likely to make fun of him for it. Then he felt someone tap him on the back and turned to see that Ginny had caught up with him.

"Why did you just leave me like that?" She sounded a little angry and a little hurt.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I don't normally show my emotions like that and I was embarrassed. I haven't ever broken down in front of someone like I just did and didn't know how to handle it. I'm sorry."

"It's ok, just don't do it again."

She smiled at him and they went to her room to talk some more.

**A/N: I will not be updating until next week sorry but I will be in Ohio and I live in Illinois. I have more written and will update it when I get back. Merry Christmas to everyone.**


	6. Birthday Surprises

Chapter 6: Birthday Surprises

The next week went exactly how that day had gone. Harry continued to ignore Ron and Hermione and spent most of his time with Ginny. They were beginning to become quite close and he was beginning to wonder if she was going to take Ron and Hermione place in his life. They still didn't understand that he was annoyed with the topic of him being the heir of Gryffindor and they didn't seem to be making any effort at finding out why Harry was avoiding them. Things had been really fun hanging out with Ginny but he didn't want to lose his oldest friends either. He really wanted to have them back and was going to take the initiative in the situation if they weren't going to. He got up from the couch he was sitting at while talking with Ginny.

"Where are you going?" she asked him with a startled look on her face.

"I need to talk to Ron and Hermione. I am tired of them acting like a couple of idiots. I miss them."

"Oh…Harry…just don't forget about me?" She looked sad that he was leaving her and let alone for this reason.

"I could never do that to you! You were here for me when nobody else was. How could I forget that?"

"It's just we weren't really friends before. We never really talked and I don't want to lose that now when they come back to you."

"Trust me, Gin. I am not going to forget you anytime soon. You are an amazing friend. I would have to be really dumb to not want to keep you around if you want me around. You are going to make some guy really lucky some day." Finally she smiled and Harry calmed down. He really didn't mean to upset or worry Ginny by him going to talk to Ron and Hermione.

"Thanks, Harry. Go talk to them now."

He left to go find them then with his mind full of thoughts. How could she think that he would dessert her after what she had done for him? These last couple of weeks had been bearable only because she had been there to talk to him. He now had more trust in her than even Ron and Hermione who had been the reason that he needed her. Then he thought of his last comment to her about making some guy lucky. For some reason that comment made him angry at himself. Did she still have a crush on him? Of course not! That had been around five years ago, she had to be over that by now. Did he want her to be over the crush though? He arrived outside of the girl's room and heard Ron and Hermione talking inside the door. He walked into the room, silencing both of them.

"Hey Harry! How are you?" said Hermione coming out of her reverie.

"Look, I only came in here to say one thing and then I am going to bed. Here it goes; you two have really pissed me off over the last couple weeks with your attitudes. All of you have talked about is what this missing link could be and you haven't bothered to pay attention to the fact that I don't want to think about it right now. It isn't going to do any good to think about it because we won't be able to figure it out anyway. I just want to enjoy this summer with my friends, not worry about things like that. I am just lucky that Ginny actually listened to me or I would have been miserable these last weeks."

"Why didn't you say something before now?" Ron asked.

"I did! I told you the first night when you found out. You two were just too big of asses to pay attention to what I was saying about it. Don't apologize, I don't need or want to here it. Just stop talking about it all of the time, please! Have you even thought about the fact that this could be our last summer together? I could be killed anytime and all you care about is what the missing link is." On that note he left them both in a stunned silence. He was so angry with them right now but he just wanted to forget it all and go back to how things were before this new prophecy. He fell asleep that night very quickly out of the happiness he felt for finally yelling at his friends for their behavior.

He slept well but was haunted by his dreams. He saw Voldemort killing all of his friends before turning his wand on Harry. He uttered the killing curse and just before the green bolt of light connected with him, Harry woke up. He had never watched his friends die before and now he understood the form that the boggart had taken for Mrs. Weasley the year before. He looked over and saw that Ron's bed was empty and became a little worried. He crossed the hall and opened the girl's door quietly to see that both of their beds were empty as well. He ran down the stairs in fear that somehow what he had dreamed was true. He came into the kitchen…

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

All of the Weasleys were there already and smiling at the look on his face. Ginny seemed to be the only one to see the look for what it really was.

"What's wrong Harry?" she asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine. I just had a bad dream. Thanks for this everyone." He broke into a wide grin at what they had done for him and the fact that his friends were perfectly safe. He had actually forgotten that it was his birthday with everything that had been going on and was completely surprised when he walked into the kitchen. Had he been at the Dursley's he may not have realized it was his birthday all day having nobody to remind him of it.

The day had been as perfect as any day that Harry could possibly think up himself. All of the Weasleys were treating him as they had before the second prophecy. Ron and Hermione were back at his side laughing and talking with him. The only difference between now and then was that Ginny was now by his side as well. After they ate lunch, they went into the family room to give Harry his presents. Fred and George had given him a bad full of very useful inventions of theirs. Some of which were; Instant Darkness Powder, some shield charmed hats and of course some pranks as well. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave him a spot on the Weasley clock. That meant more to him than he could possibly tell them. Ron gave him a huge a box full of his favorite candies from Honeydukes, Fred and George looked offended that their own brother would buy something from their competitor. Hermione finished things with a book about his newly discovered, many times over, great-grandfather, Godric Gryffindor.

He laid everything down in his trunk sat down on his bed to relax a little bit. Today had been almost perfect to his point. The exception was that he hadn't received a present from Ginny. He still hadn't worked out his feelings for her completely but he knew that the things he felt went further than just being friends with her. She was beautiful, funny, smart, and most of all an amazing friend. She was always there for him when he needed someone to talk to. He was interrupted by none other than Ginny, herself, walking into the room.

"Hey, Gin."

"Hi. I just wanted to talk to you. Are you doing ok after your dream?"

"Yeah, it was terrible. I watched all of you guys die and then Voldemort sent the curse at me but I woke up just before it hit me. I looked for you in your room but nobody was there and I got scared." She had look of sorrow on her face. How could one person get stuck with so much to deal with at this young of an age. She knew he didn't want her to feel bad for him, but she did anyway.

"Everything is going to be fine. I don't know why but I just have a feeling that everything will turn out ok in the end. Can I ask you something off topic though, Harry? It was the real reason I came in here." He nodded so she continued on. "Did you mean what you said about me getting married?"

"Of course, you would have to be blind to not see what a great girl you are."

"Harry, if you had a friend that you liked as more than a friend, do you think it would hurt their friendship to tell them how you feel about them?"

"Not if the friendship was a good one. They would be able to move past it." It was hurting him to think that she liked somebody else and only came to him for advice about what to do in the situation. He wanted to be the guy she liked.

"Thanks for your help. I just needed to know how you felt before I did this." She leaned up and kissed Harry on the lips putting him into shock. "Happy birthday, Harry." She turned and began walking out of the room.

"Ginny," he said catching her attention, "thanks. That was the best birthday present I have ever been given." He stepped towards her and then bent down and kissed her back.


	7. The Family

Chapter 7: The Family

Harry woke up the next day feeling happier than he had in a very long time. He had kissed Ginny last night and unlike Cho, she wasn't crying. He still needed to talk to her about what this really meant and what they were going to do about it as Ron probably would not be quite as happy about it as he was. In all reality they would probably have to keep it a secret from him for awhile but he didn't really care. He had always been so alone when it came to a relationship like this that he was just happy to have someone to care for that cared for him too. He really hoped that this would turn out better than the whole Cho disaster had been.

He walked down to the kitchen to find Ginny all by herself. He snuck up behind her and wrapped his arm around her waste and kissed the side of her neck.

"Morning beautiful," said Harry and Ginny smiled.

"You're not terrible yourself, you know?" she replied. "How did you sleep?"

"Great. I just couldn't get the thought of some girl out of my head; it made for some very pleasant dreams."

"She didn't happen to have red hair did she?"

"Nope, brown actually and beautiful blue eyes. Never seen her before but she was a knock out." He laughed at the dejected look on her face. "I'm only joking with you. She had gorgeous red hair and quite enticing brown eyes."

"Why thank you very much Mr. Potter." She smiled and leaned her head back so that Harry could kiss her on the lips and he did. He then moved over and sat next to her. All of the sudden he got a serious and fearful look on his face

"Should we tell your family?"

"Why wouldn't we?" She looked a little confused and hurt that he even asked that question. She had been waiting and hoping for this to happen for five years and she wanted to tell everyone about it, especially her family.

"Because I don't want your brothers trying to kill me. I already have somebody that wants to do that, I don't need six more." He smiled at her but she threw him a very dirty look in return.

"There is nothing funny about that Harry and you know it. Plus my brothers will treat you fine, they trust you."

"I am not so sure Ron will be happy about it but I can't argue with the rest of your brothers. What about your mom though? She thinks of me as her son, she might think I am crossing the line with this one."

"She won't care. She will be happy as I am. She knows how long I have fancied you. Ron is not going to be angry about it either. He is your best friend, he will be happy for us. I would worry about Fred and George if anybody. They are going to be pranking you like crazy over this. If you don't want to tell them though, I am fine with it as long as I have you." She gave him a look that told him that he better not take that choice though.

"Alright we will tell them." She broke into a huge smile when he said that and he knew that he made the right choice. "Fred and George can't do anything to me though. I am their financial partner. I got them started so they are forever indebted to me." He smiled at having them under his belt even though he knew that he would never use them like that. It was something that dark and evil people did manipulation. "You got to watch my back with Ron though," he finished.

"The famous Harry Potter letting somebody watch his back? Are you feeling ill?"

She laughed at him.

"Aren't you in some mood today?" He leaned in and kissed her and then heard the clang of something being dropped from behind them. They both turned around to see Mrs. Weasley looking at them with a shocked look on her face.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Weasley. I didn't know you were there." Said Harry whose face was turning very red and fear was showing in his eyes.

"How long has this been going on?" she asked. Her voice didn't sound angry but she wasn't smiling either. Harry was sure that his heart was beating loud enough for both Mrs. Weasley and Ginny to hear.

"Last night." His voice was squeaky with fear and nervousness. "Are you angry with me?" He added after a slight pause.

"Of course not dear. I have been hoping for this to happen for quite awhile now actually. If my only daughter is going to have a boyfriend than I am happy that it is someone that I would trust with her life. I'm just a little shocked." Harry let out a long sigh of relief. "I don't know that you can expect the same reaction out of some of her brothers though. You might not want to tell a certain one that sleeps in your room Harry."

"No Mom! I am not going to keep secrets from my family. That is just ridiculous. He will be happy that we are both making each other happy." She looked angry that her own mother had even made such a terrible suggestion.

"I am just trying to help Ginny. It is your decision to make though. And before I forget, your Hogwarts letters came. I am sorry to say that Dumbledore doesn't want either one of you out in public so you will have to stay here while we go to Diagon Alley."

Silently Harry was still thinking that he and Mrs. Weasley were correct in guessing Ron's reaction. Ginny was being naïve in thinking that Ron would be happy that his best friend was dating his little sister. It could ruin the last couple days of the summer but he was going to let Ginny make the final decision and she had. Then his thoughts shifted to Dumbledore not wanting him or Ginny out in public. He understood why he wasn't allowed but once again was stumped at why she was put under the same conditions that he was. Clearly there was something that neither of them knew about her. They finished their breakfast and went upstairs to the drawing room. He sat down on the couch and Ginny sat down in his lap.

"I wonder why you aren't allowed in public?" asked Harry.

"I wouldn't have gone anyway. Someone has to keep you company." She smiled and kissed him.

"Are you sure you want to tell your brothers? I know why you want to but I just don't know if it is the best idea. Last time I ask so make your final decision."

"Harry, Ron knows how long I have waited for this to happen. Why wouldn't he want us to be happy?"

"Because I am his best mate and you are his little sister. I know you don't want to be thought of as that but it is the truth and he is going to look at this as crossing the line."

"Relax. Everything will be fine, trust me." She leaned over and kissed him again. He kissed her back this time, lengthening the kiss. Just as it began to get more passionate they were interrupted.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HARRY!" screamed an infuriated Ron. He stormed across the room and pinned Harry against wall.

"Stop it Ron! He didn't do anything wrong. I kissed him." Ginny yelled.

"What about Dean? You can't have two boyfriends Ginny." He turned to look at her while keeping Harry against the wall.

"I'm not dating him. I told you that to get you off my back."

"Calm down Ron. We only started dating yesterday and we were going to tell you later tonight. We weren't doing anything behind your back." Harry told him.

"Go to hell, Harry. You were my best friend, how could you do this?"

"I got to know her better when we weren't speaking and she makes me feel happy for a change. I'm sorry if you don't like this but I'm not breaking it off with her."

Ron pulled back and hit Harry right in the jaw. "Stay away from me, Potter." With that he stormed out of the room and Hermione entered it.

"What just happened? All I saw was Ron hit Harry." Hermione asked.

"He doesn't seem to approve of my choice of a girlfriend." Harry said getting up and grabbing Ginny's hand. A look of comprehension dawned on Hermione face. "I had a feeling he would act like that" He finished.

"I'm sorry Harry. I should have listened to you and my mom. This is my fault, so much for trusting me." Her eyes had tears in them that looked on the verge of falling down her face.

"He might have handled it better had he not walked in on us kissing. He will get over it Gin. Don't cry, please." He put his hand on her jaw and then pulled her into a hug.

"I will go talk to him for you guys. He'll get over it. He told me he was hoping that you two would get together. I will see you two when we get back from Diagon Alley." Hermione got up and left them alone again.

"Don't worry about it Gin. We don't need him anyway, I have you and you have me." He kissed her again and she finally smiled.

A/N: I will try to get my updates quicker but I am now up to the point that I have pre-written so it is probably going to take 2 or 3 days each time. Happy New Year to everyone.


	8. The Hogwarts Express

Chapter 8: The Hogwarts Express

Things stayed tense between Harry and Ron for the next week that led up to their return to Hogwarts. Ron was avoiding Harry like Harry had done to him earlier in the summer. The only time they were in the same room with each other was when they were sleeping and Ron made sure that they weren't awake at the same time on those occasions; Ron would be asleep when Harry entered their room and would be at breakfast when he woke up. It was bugging Harry but he wasn't going to be the one to make the move to fix their problems this time. He still didn't feel that he did anything wrong and would wait for Ron to realize how stupid he was being this time. It was really starting to bug Harry how much trouble Ron was causing in his life. It was like all of the sudden he didn't care about Harry's feelings about things anymore. It was just what Ron wanted and nobody else's opinion mattered.

Mrs. Weasley had discovered what was going on and also sided with Harry. She was ashamed of how her youngest son was acting towards his best friend, but Harry told her not to say anything to Ron or convince him to talk to Harry. He wanted Ron to fix this on his own, and not get any help from anyone to see the error of his ways. The big downfall of this plan was that Hermione was hanging out with Ron instead of Harry and Ginny. She sided with Harry but felt bad that Ron was all by himself all the time. She was also trying to help Ron see his stupidity against the will of Harry.

Harry was missing Ron and Hermione again but he still had Ginny and he wasn't going to give her up to get them back. She had felt very badly about being the reason for this whole fight and told Harry that maybe they should just break up so that things could return to how they were before. He had admittedly disagreed and convinced her that they shouldn't have to be less happy just because her brother was being a jerk. Ginny was something he hadn't ever had. Sure he sort of dated Cho last year but that had been a total disaster. He had already surpassed the number of normal, happy, non-crying kisses with Ginny than he had had with Cho.

It seemed funny to Harry that Ginny was a year younger than he was and Cho was a year older than him because they acted the exact opposite. Ginny was very mature for her age and could hold a real conversation with Harry while Cho had always played mind games with him trying to figure out how much he liked her. Ginny was there for him when he needed her instead of always blowing up at Harry for stupid and petty things. It felt like he had been dating Ginny for months the way that they could talk about anything and be comfortable with each other. The fact that they had both dealt with Voldemort in a very direct way in their lives seemed to be a major connection. She had the same matured attitude toward life that he had taken from the dangers that had been through. Their relationship was very strong and he wasn't even thinking about giving that up just for the immaturity of Ron.

They were now all packed and sitting in the back seat of a ministry car on their way to the train station. Harry was once again seen as a 'good guy' by the ministry so they were given the car to maximize his security on the trip. Harry and Ginny were in the back with Mrs. Weasley and an Auror was driving. Ron, Hermione, and Mr. Weasley were in the car in front of them. They were also being followed by Moody, Lupin, Tonks, and Emmeline Vance on brooms. In an emergency each car had a portkey in it that would take them to Grimmauld Place. All in all, this was about as safe as a trip could possibly be in these times of war.

"Harry, dear, you need to be extra careful this year. No more going off on your little adventures with Ron and Hermione." Mrs. Weasley told him as the driver was parking the car.

"I know. I'm not dumb. Don't worry about us too much." He told her. When Ginny got out of the car, Mrs. Weasley grabbed Harry's shoulder to hold him back for a second.

"Keep my daughter safe. It is your job to watch her back until Christmas." He nodded his head to her and got out. They met Ron and Hermione on the other side of the barrier with Mr. Weasley.

"Everyone be safe this year. Watch each other's backs and don't go looking for trouble," said Mr. Weasley.

"We never do that, it normally finds us," answered Ron.

"Well either way just be safe. We'll see you at Christmas. Have a good year." Mrs. Weasley said. She hugged all four of them and then they got on the train. Harry and Ginny got a compartment to themselves and Ron and Hermione went to the prefects meeting.

"Think we will be seeing them before we get to school?" Harry asked once they were inside their compartment.

"I wouldn't count on it. I guess we will just have to keep each other entertained won't we?" she said before giving him a seductive grin.

"What did you want to do with that privacy, Gin? Surely your mother wouldn't approve of what is on your mind." He joked with a fake stern voice.

"I guess we won't be telling her then, will we?" she said before climbing on his lap and straddling him. She bent down and started kissing him before they were interrupted by what they heard outside their door.

"Shouldn't you be worshipping Potter right now Weasel, or is he too busy banging your sister?" They heard Malfoy say. The next thing they heard was a bang and then the sound of someone falling to the ground. Harry opened the door and saw Malfoy on the ground and unconscious. Crabbe and Goyle were holding on to Ron.

"Leave him alone you two or you will regret having to face me," said Harry. They both looked at each other and then to Harry's drawn wand. They dropped Ron and picked up Malfoy before heading down the hall and into their own compartment.

"Thanks Harry," said Ron.

"No problem."

Ron was about to say something else when he saw that Ginny was in Harry's compartment on her own and a look of anger flashed over his face. Harry realized what the look was from right away.

"Why does this bother you so much? You hinted at me asking her last year on the train ride home after you found out she dumped Micheal. Hermione already told me that you were hoping I would ask her soon too so why are you angry with me for doing what you wanted?"

"Figure it out on your own. I have better things to do than talk to a backstabbing jerk of a friend like you." Ron took off down the hall before Harry could reply so he turned around and rejoined Ginny in the compartment.

"That went well, huh?" Harry said hollowly.

"Don't worry about him. Here, I will make it better." She kissed him again and they collapsed onto the seat but were once again interrupted, this time by somebody walking through the door. "Dammit!" screamed Ginny as she turned around and saw Neville and Luna standing in the doorway.

"Oh…sorry," said a blushing Neville. They turned to leave but were stopped by Ginny.

"It's ok. How have you two been?"

"Alright, Gran was real proud of me for going with you guys to the ministry. She bought me a new wand since I broke my dad's old one."

"That's great Neville. What about you Luna?"

"Summer was great. We didn't catch any Crumple Horned Snorkacks on vacation but it was still really fun. Are we still going to be doing the D.A.?" Just like the year before she was random and staring off into space seemingly not paying any attention to what was going on around her despite her participation in the conversation.

"I don't know. We should have a real teacher this year so I don't really know what the point of it would be. They will be able to teach you better than I can."

"I don't know Harry. You were a pretty good teacher. I learned more from you than anybody else," said Ginny, surprising him. He just shrugged his shoulders as if to say maybe.

"Anyway, how long have you two been together?" Luna asked.

"Just over a week. Unfortunately my stupid brother doesn't like it very much so he is ignoring us right now," replied Ginny smiling widely. Obviously she wasn't letting the attitude of her brother get to her too much.

"Congratulations. We will leave you two alone now. See you at Hogwarts." Said Luna and they both got up and left them alone. As soon as they were alone again Harry smiled and pulled out his wand and pointed it at the door "Colloportus". They would be alone for the rest of the trip to Hogwarts now.

A/N: If you are thinking that they are going to have sex then you are very wrong. Try to keep your mind out of the gutter if it was there in the first place.


	9. Welcome Back

Chapter 9: Welcome Back

When the train came to a stop and everyone got off, everything seemed as though it would go right back to normal. Harry could hear Hagrid yelling for the first years to follow him to the boats. He waved when he saw Harry and Harry smiled back at his giant friend. He then hurried to get an open carriage with Ginny. They got one by themselves until Ron and Hermione entered the carriage as well. Harry thought then that maybe Ron was going to apologize and be his friend again.

"All of the other ones are full, that's the only reason I am riding with you, Potter." Ron said as he got inside bringing Harry back to the reality of the situation. That sentence hurt Harry a lot. Since when did his best friend call him Potter? Ginny turned red with anger and everyone knew she was about to explode at Ron. Harry didn't even bother to try and stop her because after all, he deserved it.

"You are an absolute git, Ron! You can't control who I date so stop trying. I would think you would be happy that I am with Harry since you know him and trust him unlike any other guy." She screamed at him. That wasn't enough for her yet though. She still had a whole lot of anger to get out for the past week and pulled out her wand. Harry knew what was coming before she said anything more and all of the sudden Ron was screaming and swatting at his face. She had put her famous and brutal bat-bogey hex on him. She lifted the curse after about ten seconds and he had scratch marks all over his face. The rest of the ride was silent and Harry was relieved when it ended because of all the tension that was in the air. Ron and Hermione left the carriage right away and sped away from Harry and Ginny as fast as they could. Ginny was laughing at Ron's reaction now.

"Did you enjoy that?" Harry asked with a smile on his face.

"As a matter of fact I did. Don't even try to tell me that he didn't deserve it."

"I wasn't planning on it. I knew what you were going to do and I could have stopped you but I didn't. He is going to be really pissed at us now but I think it was well worth it." He grabbed her hand and they made their way up to the front doors with big grins on theirs faces still picturing Ron running away from his sister like she was a death eater. To Harry the ordeal had most certainly been funny to watch but it hurt knowing that it was his best friend that got hit with the curse. Why couldn't Ron just be happy for them and move on. It wasn't like Harry did anything to intentionally to hurt Ron or that he treated Ginny badly. He just wanted his friend back.

When they entered the Great Hall they took seats as far away from Ron and Hermione as they possibly could. Everyone at the Gryffindor table gave them funny looks because the 'golden trio' seemed to have broken up. Not only that, but now Harry was with his best friends little sister. Harry noticed all of the looks that they were getting but wasn't in the mood to answer anyone's questions. He was saved from having to answer any questions by Professor McGonagall who walked in with the group of new students. After everyone was sorted from Austin Arringtion to Jackson Wells, who was a new Gryffindor, the feast began. All of the first years, who were sitting at Harry and Ginny's side of the table, seemed absolutely petrified at Harry let alone say anything to him. All of them had grown up like everyone else hearing his name as being a hero and now here they were sitting by him eating dinner. Ginny noticed the nervous looks on all of their faces and laughed a little.

"What is so funny?" Harry asked being completely confused. He didn't see how sitting with a bunch of first years that were in awe of him was funny in any way.

"They are all so scared of you. I don't know I guess with everything going on I just found it humorous." She shrugged her shoulders.

"I remember when somebody else acted like that in her first year." He gave her an evil grin and she lost her smug little smile to a small frown. Harry pulled her close to him and gave her a light kiss to let her know that he was just joking around with her and her smile was back.

Everyone at the table still seemed to be curious as to what was going on with the four of them but didn't really want to get caught up in what appeared to be a big mess so they ignored them. The way that Harry and Ginny were interacting though it gave off more than a small hint as to what the problem may be. Dinner seemed to last forever to Harry as the table was more or less completely quiet and filled with tension. Everyone kept stealing glances at them and Harry was beginning to get extremely annoyed at them. Finally the plates were cleared and Dumbledore stood to give his start of term speech.

"Welcome to all of the new students and welcome back to everyone else. Mr. Filch has asked that I remind you all to check his list of banned items on the door to his office. Also, a reminder that the forest is out of bounds to all students. I regret to inform all students above the second year that all Hogsmeade trips are cancelled due to the lack of safety. The inter-house Quidditch tournament, however, will continue on this year.

We all know the times that we are faced with at this moment and while no all out war has broken out, it is not safe anymore. If you notice any person acting strangely, I ask that you inform me for the safety of every person in this castle. Now I ask that you all head to your common rooms to get a good nights sleep before your first classes tomorrow morning." A cough came from behind Dumbledore and the old man blushed. "I apologize, I have forgotten to introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. May I introduce to you Professor Whittner. He is an Auror for the ministry and will help to keep this school safe in these times. Now good night."

At that point all of the students got up to leave. The first years all rushed over to Ron and Hermione who would lead them up to their new home. Harry grabbed Ginny's hand and they began the trip to north tower.

"Interesting choice of a teacher, huh? The ministry must be getting along with Dumbledore a whole lot better," said Harry.

"No kidding. He is one of their best Aurors and now he is teaching here instead of going on raids. Dumbledore must have really thought it was a priority to protect this school. At least he won't be causing the trouble that Umbridge did," replied Ginny.

Harry kept silent but was silently agreeing with her. The castle would be a ton more safe having an Auror inside it, but was it really necessary? Wasn't Dumbledore the one person that Voldemort never dared to attack? Hadn't Harry seen just last spring in the ministry that Dumbledore could still duel Voldemort and still come out alive? It scared Harry to think that Dumbledore didn't feel that he could protect the castle by himself anymore. It meant that he must be losing some of his power and that only meant bad things for their side. His worry clearly showed on his face.

"What's wrong Harry?" she asked.

"It's just well, last year he knew that Voldemort was back but he didn't try to add security to the school. As far as I know he has never added security here. That means that he doesn't feel confident enough to defend us by himself anymore. I think that the duel he had with Voldemort took a lot out of him last spring."

"Well we are just going to have to get stronger than. Remember the extra classes we are taking with him? You possess more power than even Dumbledore. We will be fine Harry. You just got to stay positive."

"I hope you are right." Said Harry still full of doubt that she was.

"I am. Let's just not think about it for awhile." She said while pulling him into an empty classroom.

"And what did you have in mind?"

"Your just going to have to figure that out on your own I'm afraid." She was smiling and he pulled her into him for a kiss.

"Hmm…very good Mr. Potter. Ten point to Gryffindor." She said when they broke apart before going right back to it.

A/N: Ok maybe my story just sucks and nobody is reading it but if you are it would be awesome if you would review it. I would rather you tell me that it sucks and that I would be better off swallowing a gun than writing another chapter instead of not reviewing it. Bad reviews are better than no reviews in other words. If you do like this story I would suggest reviewing it because if I don't start to get them I am going to assume it is bad and stop writing it.


	10. The First Lesson

Chapter 10: The First Lesson

Harry woke up the next day and found that, just like at the Burrow, Ron was already gone for breakfast. He got dressed and headed down to the common room to find that Ginny was waiting for him on a chair by the fire.

"Morning, Harry." She got up and hugged him.

"Morning, Gin. Ready for breakfast?" She nodded her head so he took her hand and they left for the Great Hall. When they entered the room they did as they had last night and sat as far away from Ron and Hermione as they possibly could. Just as they started eating, McGonagall handed them their schedules. He had charms, transfiguration, and his first lesson with Dumbledore today. He saw that Ginny was smiling anxiously.

"First one tonight; I wonder what we will be leaning?" he asked her.

"No clue, but I can't wait. I have potions and herbology today too though." She added frowning. Everybody not in Slytherin hated potions, not just Harry.

"I am Snape free this year. I really won't miss having that asshole telling me how spoiled and arrogant I am."

"Yeah, now I get to hear about it instead since I am your girlfriend. He has to let it out to somebody or his day would be totally ruined."

"If he gives you shit because you are dating me, I want to know about it. He isn't going to get away with that with nothing coming back at him."

"No, Harry, I will just ignore him. You aren't going to be getting in trouble he says to me." She said sensing that he was getting angry just at the idea that Snape might say something to her about it. She really didn't want to see what Harry would do if Snape actually followed through and said something to her about him.

"How about we just tell Dumbledore if he does? That way I stay out of trouble and he doesn't get free reign to harass you," he suggested.

"I would rather not say anything at all but if it is the only way to make you happy than we will tell him IF he actually says something." He gave her a kiss and left for Professor Flitwick's classroom. He was still fuming on the inside that Snape would do such a thing to his girlfriend and then he remembered that he hadn't actually done anything yet and calmed down a little bit. He had a feeling that Ginny was correct and that he would say something but he also knew that she would never tell him if Snape did. She hated when people fought her battles for her. She didn't like people to see her as weak all because of the Chamber of Secrets. He wasn't seeing her that way though, he just wanted to help his girlfriend if someone was picking on her.

Harry was the first Gryffindor into the class and took his usual seat waiting for everyone else to join him. Obviously he normally sat with Ron and Hermione but since they weren't currently talking to each other, he was curious who he would be sitting with during class. They had still sat together during fourth year when Ron was jealous of Harry and the two were at battle. He didn't think that things were nearly as bad between them this time as they had been two years ago so he kind of thought that they would be sitting together. Just then, Ron and Hermione walked into the room followed by the rest of the Gryffindors. Automatically Hermione sat down next to Harry and was given a very dark look from Ron who hesitantly sat down next to her.

"How have you been Hermione?" Harry asked.

"I'm fine. Look, you two need to sort this out. I don't want to deal with this any longer. This is not going to be fourth year all over again with me passing messages back and forth for you two. I am tired of having to pick sides so either you guys figure out how to get along with each other again, or I will find new friends." She said getting quite flustered in the process.

"I'm not talking to that back stabbing asshole, Hermione!" yelled Ron.

"I didn't stab you in the back. We were going to tell you later that night. Honestly Ron, why does this bother you so much? It's not like I want to replace you with her. I never wanted to have to pick between the two of you but you are making me. I thought you were a better friend than this."

"Attention class!" said Professor Flitwick as he walked into the classroom. "Today we will be learning to do charms non-verbally. Being in a NEWT level class you should all be able to do this with practice. The key to doing this is concentrating your mind on the incantation for the charm and doing the normal wand movement. We will start with the levitation charm. There should be no talking since you need to concentrate on the spell, begin."

"Harry, I…" Ron started.

"No, talking Ron," said Harry cutting him off.

"He had a feeling that Ron was about to apologize but he wanted to make him wait until Ginny was there too, not to mention make it harder on him since it now looked like Harry wasn't interested in forgiving him. Harry caught on to non-verbal spells quite quickly. In fact, he was the first person to correctly do it, even before Hermione. She was the only other person in the class that managed to levitate her feather. After charms, they made their way to transfiguration where they were starting human transfiguration. Harry was the only person to successfully do a partial transfiguration. He gave himself rabbit ears which the whole class laughed at and Professor McGonagall complimented saying that it was rare that someone do it successfully in their first class. After that he left ahead of Ron and Hermione to catch Ginny by the front doors to get lunch.

"How was your morning?" he asked.

"Fine, Snape didn't say anything to me all period. He just ignored me like I was a disease. It was rather nice actually. What about yours?"

"I think Ron was about to apologize to me before charms but I cut him off before he could. You need to be there too, he isn't getting off that easy. Anyway, let's go to lunch."

"Do you want to sit with Ron and Hermione then?"

"Nope. I want him to think that I won't forgive him for a little bit, see how he likes it."

They ate their lunch away from their friends once again before setting off for the headmaster's office. They took turns guessing the password before Ginny got it with 'licorice wands'. They walked up the spiral staircase and knocked on the door. It opened to the smiling face of Albus Dumbledore.

"Hello Harry, Ginny," said Dumbledore. "Have a good morning?"

"Yes, sir. What are we learning today?" asked Ginny quickly unable to mask her excitement.

"We will be taking a look at the past. We need to learn what the missing link in the prophecy about the heir of Gryffindor is. I think you may have a question for me though, Ginny."

"Actually I do, sir. I understand why Harry is taking lessons with you, but why am I here?" she asked puzzled.

"Let me ask Harry a question and maybe it will answer yours. Who do you trust above all others right now, Harry?"

"Ginny. She has been by my side while everybody else has pushed me away. I will never forget that." Harry answered. Ginny smiled quite widely and her cheeks went a little bit pink.

"That is your answer, Ginny. He needs help through this and I am confident that you will be there for him like you have this summer. It helps that you are quite a powerful witch yourself though. I would suggest keeping her quite close Harry." Harry now blushed at having this conversation with his teacher.

"Now we need to take a look back at the time of the founding four. What do you two know about them?"

"Gryffindor and Slytherin were the most powerful of them. They obviously had the fight about blood and then Gryffindor forced Slytherin to leave the castle. That's all I have heard about them," said Harry.

"Anything to add Ginny?" she shook her head. "I could bore you both with countless facts about all of them but there are a couple of things about them that stand out as the most important. Something happened to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw before Gryffindor was able to force Slytherin out. They were both killed. It is believed that Slytherin killed them but never proven. This is important because I think it is the key to you finding your power Harry."

"Why? Are you saying that more people are going to have to die before I get the power to kill Voldemort?" He shuddered at that thought.

"Not just any two people. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw each had one child that passed on their heritage. The two people that must die for you to gain your power are their heirs."

"But how do we find them and then explain to them that they must die for the good of the world. Something tells me that they won't want to end their blood lines that easily," said Ginny.

"Well one of them is already dead. Hufflepuff's heir was killed two years ago during the tri-wizard tournament."

"Cedric. Did he even know?"

"No, to this day his parents don't know. I just discovered it this summer. I plan to tell them once this whole situation is over. Hopefully it will put some peace behind his death knowing that it served a great purpose."

"So is it safe to assume that the heir of Ravenclaw is in her house? It would only make sense, wouldn't it?" suggested Ginny.

"Yes, that would probably be a safe assumption to make. Unfortunately though, that doesn't really bring us any closer to finding the heir since I have already been assuming that much. There is one more complication that I need to tell you before I let you go. The heir can not be killed by just any person. Voldemort must kill them since he is the one that is carrying Slytherin's blood."

"So when this is all over, only one of the founding four's blood lines will be remaining. And that member's beliefs are likely to be carried on in the world as well. This is just insane," said Harry overwhelmed by the pressure that lay on his shoulders.

"Do you have any idea who it could be, sir?" asked Ginny.

"A hint but I can't tell you in case it is only that. You two should head down to dinner now though. Good evening to you both."

Harry and Ginny left the office and stopped once they were outside the gargoyle. They saw that they were alone in the hallway and decided it would be a good time to discuss things.

"Are you ok Harry?"

"I will be. I'm just tired of people have to die for me." He gave her a weak smile and she took his hand.

"It's almost over now though. Everything will be fine, I promise." She laid her head on his shoulder as they made their way down the hall.

A/N: This is my longest one yet by quite a lot. Thank you all for the reviews. Keep them up and I will update quickly like I did this time.


	11. Quidditch TryOuts

Chapter 11: Quidditch Try-Outs

Harry and Ginny had two more lessons with Dumbledore that week and spent most of them researching the probable characteristics of the missing heir. Unfortunately they were no close at the end of the week to finding the heir than they were when they first heard the prophecy. Both Harry and Ginny thought that this person sounded a lot like Hermione but she was in the wrong house. Dumbledore agreed with their thoughts completely, including the thought that she was not the heir because of the house that she was in. It just wasn't likely that the heir of Ravenclaw would not be in her house. Dumbledore told them that the research part of the class was more or less over now that they had a very detailed description of the heir's likely characteristics. They would start to learn new advanced magic the next week and the only research that would be done would be to get a better grasp on the theory of the different types of magic.

"I can't wait to start to learn magic from Dumbledore! I am going to make Ron pay for the way he is treating us and I am going to enjoy every second of it," said Ginny with a big smile on her face.

"Maybe you should look into being a death eater; I hear they get pleasure out of torturing other people as well." Harry joked before getting slapped in the shoulder.

"I would, but I just couldn't live with myself after I killed you in battle."

"Getting a little bit cocky, are we? I think you may be forgetting that I am the most powerful wizard this world has ever seen, Gin."

"Whatever, you win I guess. More importantly though, how are we going to get Ron back? You know you want to use this magic against him."

"I don't care about getting him back; I just want him to stop being an ass."

"So are you trying to tell me that you aren't excited about learning from Dumbledore?"

"It will be better than Umbridge, I guess." He said shrugging his shoulders.

"Stop being a kill joy! Have a little fun, Harry." She laughed and bumped her hips into his. Finally he cracked a smile.

"Speaking of having fun, quidditch try-outs are going to be tomorrow at noon. You are going to play aren't you?" He asked clearly wanting her answer to be yes.

"I don't know. I'm not sure I am going to have time with my OWLS coming up. Unless you really want me to steal you position from you that is." She grinned evilly at him.

"I could beat you on a school broom with an arm tied behind my back. Seriously though, we really need you on the team as a chaser."

"I'll take that challenge by the way. And if you are going to take up my time with quidditch, what am I going to be getting in return?" She raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"Hmm…I can think of a couple things. How will this do?" He pulled her close and kisser her until they both needed a breath of air.

"You now that wasn't needed but it was quite a nice added bonus. I was already planning on playing and you know it." She gave him a quick kiss and they made their way to the common room.

The next morning after breakfast Harry and Ginny decided to go down and visit Hagrid. Ginny was quite nervous about it since the only time she had been down to his hut was when she killed the school roosters in her first year. Of course she had been under the control of Tom Riddle at the time but that didn't change the fact that she was the one that physically killed them. He also didn't know her from classes because she didn't take care of magical creatures. Harry knew that she was nervous about nothing and that Hagrid wouldn't hold anything against her. Harry knocked on the door and heard Fang barking his head off before Hagrid opened the door.

"'ARRY! Good ter see ya. Come in and ye to Ginny." They both walked and sat down across from Hagrid. "How've ya been?"

"Alright. Typical me, making the news for doing absolutely nothing."

"Ya, tha's our 'Harry. Where are Ron and 'Ermione?"

"Ron doesn't approve of me dating Ginny and Hermione feels bad that he is left all by himself. Hopefully it will get sorted out soon."

They talked about everything from Harry and Ginny's relationship to how Grawp was coming along until it was time for quidditch try-outs. It turned out that Grawp was coming along quite well since last year. He still didn't recognize very many people but he was starting to learn some words and control his temper. Harry had very serious doubts about whether he would ever trust anybody but Hagrid though. Sure he had remembered Hermione last year in the forest but that was only to ask where Hagrid was. All the same, the giant had saved both of their lives from centaurs and for that Harry would always be thankful of him.

Harry and Ginny were the first ones into the locker rooms and got changed on their own sides of it. Harry was excited to get back onto his broom and be in the air again. He had not flown his broom since he had been banned in the first match of the year last season because he attacked Malfoy afterward. Once everyone had shown up Harry started things off by passing the quaffle around to relax everyone's nerves. He then called order back on the ground.

"Alright, I am assuming everyone knows that the only open roster spots are two chaser spots. Anyone here for another position can kindly leave now." He was pleased to see that nobody left meaning that they were at least all smart enough to read and interpret the sign in the common room. "Good to see that everyone can read. Now we will have two teams of two go up at a time. One beater will play for each team and Ron and Katie will play keepers while observe. Alright let's get in the air."

After all but one group had gone, Kelly Ashbrook was the only one that stood out as an impressive player. Harry wasn't worried about the lack of talent though because he had saved Ginny for the last group and knew who would be taking the final spot on the team. He was actually kind of glad that nobody else had looked good because he didn't want to have to pick between a quality player and his girlfriend because he knew he would end up looking very biased. When she finally got up into the air; she was by far the most impressive of everyone, making Harry happy that he wouldn't be cutting his girlfriend. Right after Harry blew the whistle to end the try-out, a bludger nailed Ginny right in the back of the head and she fell from her broom. Harry sped after her right away and caught her about 20 feet above the ground. Catching her made him lose his balance though and he was sent off his broom. Ron was able to catch Ginny but nobody got to Harry in time and he fell to the ground hitting feet first. He felt both of his legs break before his head hit the ground and he passed out.

He woke up and everything was blurry to go with a massive head ache. He grabbed his glasses off the desk beside him and everything came into focus. He was lying in the hospital wing and everything came flashing back to him. He looked over and saw that Ginny was lying awake in the bed beside him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked. That's when he all of the sudden felt the pain in his legs and remembered feeling them snap when he hit the ground.

"I've definitely been better but I've been worse too. Both of my legs are broken and who knows what else."

"Ron told me what happened. I guess you saved my life again. You really need to stop doing that or you are going to wind up killing yourself." She gave him a small smile as if to say thank you.

"I guess everyone should stop putting themselves into these positions in front of me then. On a positive note though, you are on the team."

"But I almost died. Don't take me on the team just because I am your girlfriend. It's not fair to everybody else."

"You got hit after the whistle and you were by far the best one out there. Kelly was the only other one that was in the same league as you. She is actually really good for only being in her second year." They were interrupted by someone walking into their room. It was Ron.

"Look, Harry, I am sorry. I was an idiot for not wanting you to be with Ginny when you make each other so happy. I was just worried that you wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore if you had her. I guess I ruined that on my own though. I am really happy for the two of you, even if I haven't shown in the past couple weeks. And I want to thank you for risking your life to save hers. I know I can trust you with her." He looked down at his shoes when he was done talking. Harry knew that had been hard for him to say. Ron didn't openly apologize very often.

"I've miss you Ron. I don't really trust you right now but I am willing to give you a chance to earn it back. I need to sleep right now though. Thanks for coming here." Ron left the room.

"Hell must have frozen over," said Ginny with a smile on her face.

"At least it's one less thing to worry about."

A/N: Sorry that this took longer to get out than normal but I had a hectic last couple of days and didn't have much time to get writing. Fortunately the weekend came and I got a chance. I know that I didn't do a good job with writing how Hagrid talks but it isn't easy and I was too lazy to check it with one of the actual books so don't review about that but make sure to review about everything else because reviews are good. Hopefully the next chapter will be out quicker but I can't make any promises.


	12. Bed Time Wanderings

Chapter 12: Bed Time Wanderings

Harry found getting to sleep to be quite easy on this night. It had been a rough day having watched his girlfriend get hit in the head with a bludger before falling off her broom and then having to save her, breaking his own legs in the process. None of that mattered now though, Ron had come and apologized to Harry for being a jerk the last month. He also found out that Ginny would be fine and be able to leave the hospital wing the next morning. He was currently having quite pleasant dreams about Ginny (not dirty dreams if your being perverted) when all of the sudden he woke up. He couldn't see anybody else in the infirmary other than Ginny. When he saw her, he realized right away why he had woken up. She was muttering in her sleep and the look on her face told him that she was scared out of her wits.

"No, Tom, I don't want to do this anymore. Please just leave me alone," she was saying.

Harry got up and walked to her bed. He lightly shook her shoulder to wake her up. When she finally did wake, she looked lost and confused. Then a look of terror overcame her face.

"Get away from me, Tom. Please, I don't want to do this anymore." Her voice was shaking in fear.

"Gin, it's not Tom. You were having a dream. I'm Harry, everything is going to be fine," he replied.

She began to cry once she realized what was going on. Harry climbed onto the bed with her and just held her in his arms letting her cry into his shoulder. Finally, after awhile she began to calm and Harry held her away from him a little so that he could talk to her.

"How often do you have that dream, Gin?"

"About once every couple weeks or so. Normally nobody wakes me up from it though and I relive the whole time in the chamber before I wake up in the morning. The next day is always horrible." Her voice was still weak. Harry could tell that it was hard for her to talk about it.

"You haven't told anybody about the chamber, have you?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, I can't stand to bring it up. It hurts too much to think about what I did to everyone. I almost got the school shut down. I almost got you killed Harry." Tears were coming back to her eyes now. He pulled her back into a tight embrace to comfort her. He understood very well the feelings of guilt that she was having. He had the same thoughts all summer long thinking about what he had done at the end of his fifth year.

"You didn't almost kill me. You would never try to kill me or anybody else. You can't blame yourself for writing into a journal. How were you supposed to know that it was possess you? You aren't the one to blame for the Chamber of Secrets and you need to realize that for you to put it behind you."

"But I am responsible. I can't just pretend like I didn't let him possess me. I figured out what was going on and I still was dumb enough to keep writing in the journal. I let myself get used by Tom. If I wouldn't have been dumb and let my guard down than that never would have happened."

"Do you realize how many people have been tricked by Voldemort? You aren't even the only one in this bed right now that has fallen into one of his traps. At least when you got tricked you didn't know that it was Voldemort doing it. I, on the hand, did know that he was giving me the visions and yet I never questioned them. I don't mean to sound harsh, but at least nobody did die for your mistake. Be thankful that you don't have the death of someone on your conscious."

"How can you tell me to stop blaming myself when you are clearly still blaming yourself for what happened last year?"

"Because I don't blame myself for it anymore. I know that I made a mistake but I know that I'm not the one that killed Sirius. I didn't choose to have him killed and I would never choose that on anyone willingly. It is ok to realize that you made a mistake but you can't blame yourself for the terrible things that somebody else did through your mistake." Ginny face broke into a smile and it looked like she was fighting to hold back on laughing at him.

"You should leave all the wise talk to Dumbledore and Lupin; I have no clue what you just said."

"Shut up. At least I got you to smile," he replied as his face turned red with embarrassment.

"Aww…poor baby. Are you embarrassed?" She teased him before giving him a kiss. "Thank you for being her for me when I needed you. Just one more thing, will you stay with me tonight? I feel safer in your arms than by myself." Now it was her turn to blush because of her question and confession.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I don't think that Madam Pomphrey would be so happy to find her two patients in the same bed tomorrow morning." He said in a worried tone.

"Please, Harry. I don't want to have any more dreams about Tom tonight." The fear in her voice was all the persuading the she needed to get him to stay. Above all of his priorities was making his girlfriend happy and safe and at the moment she needed him to be there if she was going to be.

"Alright, Gin, I'll stay if you want me to." She responded by lifting up the covers so that he could climb underneath with her. He laid down on his back and she put her head on his chest and wrapped her arm around his back as if holding on to him so he couldn't get away. They both fell asleep quite easily and slept quite peacefully until the next morning came.

When Harry woke up, he felt oddly cramped in bed. Then he noticed that something was laying on him and holding on for dear life. He opened his eyes and looked down to see Ginny sleeping with her head on his chest. Forgetting about last night and the fact that he had two broken legs he jumped out of the bed before collapsing to the ground as both of his legs gave when he tried to stand. All of the sudden he felt the searing pain coming from his legs and remembered that they had both been shattered. All of the commotion had awoken Ginny who looked worried that Harry was no longer in bed with her.

"What are you doing Harry?" she asked spotting him on the floor beside her bed.

"Do you realize that we slept together last night?" She nodded her head with a confused look on her face as if it weren't any kind of news that they had shared a bed. "Gin, we can't be doing that already. We haven't even been together very long and we are too young anyway."

"Look, Harry, I needed you last night so I asked you stay with me. I was scared because of my dream and I felt safer in your arms. I wasn't trying to get you to 'sleep with me'; I just wanted your comfort. I know that we are too young for anything more, so don't worry about it."

"Personally I agree with Harry on this one. And you better not have done anything but sleep or I will kill you, Harry." Said Ron from a chair across the room in front of their beds. In all of the action that was going on, neither Harry nor Ginny saw that Ron was in the room with them. Their worry seemed to show on their faces. "At least now I know that you weren't lying since you didn't know that I was here. Do you need help up, Harry?"

"Umm…sure. Why didn't you say something?" asked Harry while Ron gave him his right arm to help him into his own bed.

"I figured one of you would have seen me; I wasn't exactly hiding. Besides now you don't have to worry about me beating the hell out of you for sleeping with my sister."

A/N: I am once again sorry that it took me so long to update but you didn't exactly help yourselves with the lack of reviews. Two or three reviews on a chapter isn't going to help get chapters up any quicker. I am curious on your thoughts on something though. Why do people always put "I don't own Harry Potter or the characters just the plot"? I mean seriously, NO SHIT! Sorry just one of my pet peeves with people on this site. I am hoping to have another update by like Wednesday because there are no basketball games at my high school this week. REVIEW MORE THIS TIME!


	13. Catching Up

Chapter 13: Catching Up

Ginny was able to leave the hospital wing later that day, but Harry would be stuck there until Monday morning. He was now alone with his thoughts while Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were at dinner. All of the sudden, now that the fight with Ron was over, all he could think about was who the heir of Ravenclaw could be. He was desperate to find out as soon as possible so that he could get everyone out of danger before someone got seriously hurt. Not only that but he was sick of not being able to give all of his attention to Ginny. He was tired of having to worry about somebody attacking her because of the connection to him. He just wanted to be able to live a life with her that could be just themselves and not have everyone in the wizarding world know and care about it. He couldn't have his worry free life though until he found the heir. He decided that, despite how Ron had broke his trust; he needed to talk to Hermione and him about the heir. They couldn't do anything but help their search after all. Fortunately for him Ginny was walking in with the two of them right at that moment.

"How was dinner? Did you bring me anything good?"

"We figured you had already eaten but I did bring you some pumpkin juice," said Ginny while handing him the container of juice. "Legs feeling any better?"

"I feel fine. I don't know why I have to stay here tonight," replied Harry in a downcast voice.

"What about now?" she added while jumping on top of his legs. He groaned when she landed and she smiled at him before leaning in to give him a kiss.

"Alright, you're forgiven, now get off my legs!" she obediently got off him and laid down next to him in his bed. "Now there are some things that we need to tell the two of you." Harry added pointing at Ron and Hermione, finally acknowledging the fact that they were in the room.

"I thought I wasn't trustworthy anymore?" said Ron confused that he was being filled in on what was going on.

"I know that I can trust you; just don't go and blow it again. Now this is about the missing link. Dumbledore knows what it is." He stopped at the stunned looks on both Ron and Hermione's faces. Ginny let out a giggle at them and they were brought back to reality.

"So have you gotten your hidden powers yet or do you have to be trained first?" asked Hermione in a voice between awe and excitement.

"Unfortunately it isn't quite that easy. Dumbledore knows what it is, but not who it is," said Ginny getting the expected confused looks in return.

"Who? What do you mean who? How can you know 'what' it is but not 'who' it is? That doesn't make any sense." Hermione rushed in after Ginny was done.

"Well apparently when Gryffindor defeated Slytherin to get him out of Hogwarts, a couple of things took place before that happened. Slytherin is thought to have attacked and killed both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff before Gryffindor made him leave. Gryffindor suspected Slytherin and that is what led him to forcing Slytherin out. Dumbledore thinks that history is going to have to repeat itself in full." Harry told them while trying to think if he left anything out. He could see that Ron was still very lost but Hermione had the look of comprehension finally strike her face.

"So are you trying to tell me that for you to get the power that you need to defeat Voldemort; the two non-existent heirs of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff must die first? That can't be true Harry because neither of those two had kids to pass on their blood," stated Hermione. Ron looked at her in awe that she could decipher everything that Harry and Ginny said into what she had just suggested.

"You got the idea of it but there are a couple helpful things that you were quite wrong about. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff did in fact have kids and do in fact have heirs. Well in Hufflepuff's case had an heir. He has already been killed by Voldemort. So back to Ginny's statement; we know what the missing link but not who it is," explained Harry.

"Just curious but was Hufflepuff's heir Cedric?" Ginny nodded her head and Hermione continued on. "Do you have any idea at all of whom the last heir could be?"

"Just basing it off of the characteristics that Ravenclaw had; this person should be quite smart and also quite loyal to their friends. They would probably be against anything that gave power to somebody over anyone else. I just discovered a new one a couple days ago that may be the most helpful of them all, Ravenclaw was a half-blood. Her father was a muggle," said Harry, stunning everyone in the room, including Ginny.

"How did Slytherin ever even agree to let her help in the building of the school in the first place? There is no way that he would have let a half-blood help to design the school and put them in a position of power." Ron added while in total shock.

"I would guess that nobody knew her ancestry, not even Gryffindor. I would also guess that it was what brought Slytherin going berserk and killing two of the founders. This is the first real break through we have had in our research, good job Harry." Ginny kissed her boyfriend out of the happiness of being one step closer to the final piece of the puzzle.

"O.K. so is there any more important things dealing with the heir? How they must die? Any more hints to who she is?" questioned Hermione quickly. Her face was pale as though she was about to be sick.

"Are you alright Hermione?" asked Ginny.

"I'm fine; I just want to know everything."

"Seriously, Hermione, what is wrong. You look horrible." Harry sounded extremely worried about his friend. She looked like she had just received the worst news of her life and he wanted to know what the problem was.

"It's just that…well this person sounds an awful lot like me, except for being a half-blood." She sounded quite worried now and the tone scared Harry. It was like the life was being sucked out of her by the minute.

"We already asked Dumbledore about you and he said it wasn't possible," said Ginny soothingly.

"How can it not be possible?"

"Well first off you would probably be in Ravenclaw if you were her heir. Not to mention the fact that you have muggle parents. One of your parents would have to be magical to carry the blood of Ravenclaw," explained Harry but Hermione still did not look satisfied.

"Look, why don't you and me go talk to Dumbledore about it? He will be able to show you all the proof that he showed Harry and Ginny," suggested Ron.

"Alright, whatever let's go. Goodnight Harry." Hermione and Ron both got up and left Harry and Ginny to themselves for the first time all day. Harry looked at Ginny with a look of concern on his face that he had hidden from Hermione.

"I know that Dumbledore said that she wasn't the heir but what if he was wrong? What if it turns out that for me to win this war; Hermione has to sacrifice her life for all of us to live? How am I supposed to live knowing that I sentenced one of my only friends to death?" Harry asked. Ginny's heart went out to him and his situation. In all of the things the world looked to him to do for them, nobody ever thought about the fact that maybe it would hurt him to do them. Nobody ever stopped to care about how Harry was doing, just whether he would be able to rid their world of evil. To the world Harry was a savior, but in reality he was just a teen-age boy having to deal with grown-up problems and struggling to maintain his sanity.

"Harry, you aren't sentencing the heir to death. Voldemort is doing that. If you had your way, nobody would be killed in this war because there wouldn't be a war. I know that is hard for you not to think that it is your fault when people die in this war because they are trying to protect you but you need to realize that it is their choice to make. Everyone that has given their lives for you would do it again in a heartbeat, Harry."

"I just can't stop thinking that I wish I had never brought your family into this mess. None of you deserve to be hunted just because you are friends with me. You are all good people that don't deserve to have to live in fear of their lives every second of every damn day. I don't even care if I die in this war anymore if it would mean that you all would be safe and happy." His words brought tears to her eyes. She hated to see Harry like this. He wasn't a weak person but sometimes things just got to be too much for him and out came a scene like this.

"Harry, don't you ever say anything like that again! None of us will ever be happy again if you die. You are part of our family now so don't you dare even try to abandon us just for our safety. You damn well know that you need us!" She sounded eerily like her mother right then but either way it got the point across to Harry.

"I'm not going to abandon you. I love all of you too much to do that to you all but I just want you to be safe. I would do anything if I knew that doing it would mean that you were safe."

"Harry we don't need to be protected. We love you for trying but we don't need you to. Just take care of yourself when you fight him; don't worry about us." The mention of him fighting Voldemort brought a thought to his mind that he had to ask her about.

"Gin, do you think I am a bad person for wanting to kill Voldemort? Not needing to kill or being forced to kill, but actually wanting to kill him."

"No, Harry, I don't. That evil creature has stolen everything that you ever had just for the sake of doing it. He had no reason to kill your parents or attack you as a baby. As far as I am concerned he is not human and it isn't murder at all. It is simply a necessity."

A/N: I thought this chapter was going to be short but hey I guess not. Things are about to take on a much faster action pace in the upcoming chapters. I know I said that I thought I would have this up by Wednesday but hey you guys didn't really do your part either only putting up one review on the last chapter. I have the next chapter written already so maybe if you actually review this one I will give you that one quicker.


	14. Gone

Chapter 14: Gone

The next month passed by smoothly with Hermione finally settling for the fact that she was not the heir of Ravenclaw. Oddly she seemed to be more depressed about the fact that she would get to live than she had when she thought was the heir. Ever since the night that she discovered the characteristics of the heir she had been very down. Harry figured that after she talked to Dumbledore and was convinced that she was safe; she would be happy again. He turned out to be very wrong. She had been ok for about a week and then she fell to the deepest depression that he had ever seen anyone be in. Dumbledore assured them that she just had some things on her mind and that she would tell them what was bothering her when she was ready.

Ron and Ginny were extremely worried about her as well. They all noticed that she wasn't performing to her usual standards in classes and had failed to complete a lot of assignments. They were all completely lost as to why she would fall into a depression about not being the person destined to die. None of them had any idea of what to do for her to make her feel better. That was made even more difficult because it seemed that Hermione was doing her best to avoid seeing any of them. Halloween was the next Saturday and they were hoping the Hogsmeade trip would cheer her up a little bit or at least enough to talk to them. The three of them had planned out the day to a "T" to make the day perfect for Hermione.

The morning of the trip the three of them waited for Hermione to come down in the common room so they could go to breakfast together. When she finally came down the steps they all smiled at her to make her feel comfortable. She returned the smile but Harry could tell that it was genuine. Ginny and Ron began to leave the common room but Harry hung back to talk to Hermione for a second.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to. I don't know what is bothering you lately but if you aren't ready to face it and just want more time to think about it, I understand and I'm sure that Ron and Ginny will too."

"No, Harry, you guys planned this out for me, I'm going. I know that I haven't been myself lately but I owe you all this much. I am ready to talk to you guys about it but later, ok? It is going to be really hard for me." Harry was really worried by the look on her face. She looked like that world was going to end anytime now.

"We will help you with it as much as we can. We are all here for you, Hermione."

"Unfortunately there is nothing that anybody can do to help me out with this one. Let's just head down to breakfast before Ginny thinks that I am trying to steal her boyfriend away." She gave him a smile. This time for the first time in over a month, it looked real.

They ate breakfast in silence before making their way to the front doors to leave for Hogsmeade. They were on the edge of the village when their lives would change forever. Hermione stopped walking and pulled them off the path where they couldn't be seen by anyone. Ron, Ginny and Harry exchanged a worried look before Hermione began to speak in a very shaky voice.

"A week after you told me about your missing link I discovered something." She began while looking at Harry. "All three known heirs are half-blood. Obviously their ancestor was a pure blood but Ravenclaw wasn't as you discovered Harry. She was a half-blood and if the pattern continued with the other heirs, Ravenclaw's wouldn't be a half-blood but instead be a muggle born. Each heir lost a little bit of magical blood in them as their ancestor. When I told this to Dumbledore he suspected that I was correct, so we traced my family line. It traced back to Rowena Ravenclaw; I am the last heir. I would have told you all sooner but it was just too hard to see you and know that my time was gone and that I would have to say good-bye. I left you all notes on my bed to make sure I said everything that needed to be said." She had tears running down her face and was not alone in that aspect. All four of them were now crying. This was the last time that they would all be together.

"Hermione, I am so sorry but you don't have to do this. I can win this war without this hidden power. Please don't leave," Harry begged.

"No you can't. This is how fate laid things out. I have to die so everyone else can live. Don't blame yourself for this, Harry. One of us finally gets to save your life." She smiled at him through her tears. "I love all of you. Death eaters are going to be capturing me soon and you must let them. I worked this plan out with Snape and Dumbledore. Good-bye."

Just as she finished saying good-bye; she took off running away from them so that they couldn't stop her. She knew that if they tried, she would let them but she had to do this. Not ten seconds after she left them; Harry heard the pops of apparition and the screams of everyone announcing the arrival of death eaters. They could hear people screaming that they had captured Hermione Granger and that they all escaped unscathed. Harry, Ron and Ginny turned and left to go back to the castle. They went straight to the common room and then to Harry and Ron's dormitory. Once inside, all three of them broke down crying. They sat on Harry's bed hugging each other and letting the tears come until there were no more to cry. Suddenly Ginny got up.

"I'm going to go get the letters." She said simply with no emotion in her voice. Ron and Harry just nodded their heads and watched her leave. This just didn't seem real to Harry. Any second now Hermione would come through the door laughing. She just couldn't really be dead. He was tired of losing everyone that was close to him. People continuously sacrificed their lives just in the hope that he could defeat Voldemort. What if he couldn't?

"Remember when we first met her? She was so annoying on the train that day. I never would have guessed that she would have become one of my best friends," said Ron. He had a half smile on his face that made him look crazy.

"Or how pretty she looked at the Yule Ball. You didn't even recognize her." Harry laughed at the memory.

"I finally worked up the nerve to tell her how I felt about her this year too. When I was hanging out with her because we were fighting, I told her. Just as soon as I finally work up the nerve, she is taken from me. It isn't fair." Ron couldn't take it anymore and lost it again. Hr broke down on Harry's shoulder while Harry was lost. He had no idea that they had finally began to date. To be quite honest he wished he didn't know because now it hurt him even more. Because Harry was destined to have a savior, Ron lost the girl that he loved. Ron said it best, life just isn't fair. Just then Ginny walked into the room with the letters. Ron calmed down enough to take his. Harry took his and began to read it immediately.

_Harry,_

_I'm sorry I couldn't say good-bye in person the way I should have but it was just too hard. I told you in our first year that there were things more important than brains, like friendship. My friendship with you is one of the reasons I can say good-bye and be happy with my life. You were always there for me and nothing does me a greater honor in death than to know that it is saving your life. Know that I loved like the brother that I never had. Don't mope over me for too long because there is a job that needs to be finished. I am sorry for being the latest person to sacrifice my life for you. You are just too loved I guess. Speaking of which take care of Ginny and help Ron to move on with his life._

_With all the love in my heart,_

_Hermione_

That was it. He would never have any more contact with her for the rest of his life. That's when it finally seemed to sink in what had happened today. He made up his mind at that moment that he would pay Hermione that respect that she deserved by ridding the world of Voldemort. No more mourning her death until he was unable to this to anybody else. He didn't need anymore power to destroy Voldemort. He stole his best friend from him and he would have to pay the price for it. He would learn everything he could from Dumbledore and then he would kill the Dark Lord before the end of the year. He had to do it as the last wish Hermione asked of him.

"Let's just all go to bed. We can't do anything else for her. Please, I just want to sleep. I can't think about his anymore today."

"How am I supposed to sleep Harry? I have nothing to live for anymore. I don't want to live, let alone sleep!" Ron screamed at him.

"Ron, I know this hard for you but you can't do this to yourself. You know she wouldn't want you to. Here I will walk you to your bed," said Ginny soothingly. She pulled Ron to his feet and helped him trudge across the room and lay down in his bed. She pulled the curtains closed around his bed and then walked back to Harry.

"Ready for bed?"

"Gin, as much as I want you to stay, you can't."

"Yes, I can and I will. You need me right now and I need you just as much. Just tonight. Dumbledore wouldn't care."

"Alright, you win."

They climbed into bed together and Harry wrapped his arms around Ginny protectively. She fell asleep almost instantly but that wasn't the case for Harry. He thought about the last five years and everything that Hermione had done for him. He was still in shock that he would never talk to her again. He closed his eyes and said one more thing before falling asleep.

"Goodnight Hermione. I love you, good-bye."

A/N: Ok so now those of you who actually read this story are probably quite angry with me. Honestly though it was the only thing way that made sense. I didn't do this as a punishment for not reviewing very much. I had this planned out the whole way and I have everything that is going to happen planned out as well. All I ask is that you continue to read it. Please review even if you are pissed at me right now.


	15. New Power

Chapter 15: New Power

The following day had been the worst of Harry's life. He hated losing his godfather the year before but that seemed like nothing compared to losing one of his best friends. The school held a small honorary banquet in the honor of Hermione the day after she gave herself to the aid of their war effort. Ginny forced both Harry and Ron to go despite their heavy protests. Dumbledore had spoken words about Hermione before turning the pedestal over to any students. Ginny nudged Harry and he stoop up; all head turned his way.

"Hermione was one of the first people to actually treat me like I belonged in this world. I grew up being tortured by my aunt and uncle and I just assumed that that was how people were always going to treat me. I didn't know what it felt like to have somebody give a damn about you until I met her and Ron. They changed my life in ways that they don't even realize and probably never will." He looked at the Slytherin table and made up his mind to go ahead and say what he was really thinking about. Somebody had to say it and he might as well be the one to do it.

"Some of the people in this hall are just as much responsible for the death of Hermione and other innocent people as the people that actually killed them. Some of you are actually ignorant enough to think that blood matters. Hermione was one your hated half-bloods and could beat any of you in a duel. Bastards like you are the reason we are fighting this war in the first place. You care so much about the blood of a man and yet you blindly follow a man who is a half-blood. You either never knew that fact or never thought about how damn stupid that is. You are 'cleansing' the wizarding world behind a man that would be 'cleansed' if he wasn't in charge. Make your choice now about which side you are on because after tonight there is no going back. Choose the wrong side and I will make sure that you end up either dead or in Azkaban."

He said every word of the ending of his speech while looking directly at the Slytherin table. The hall was stunned at the words that had just escaped Harry's mouth. He had just threatened any and every dark wizard in the hall that they would be either dead or capacitated if they didn't change their ways. Death eaters' kids were in the hall and heard every word and would soon be reporting them to their fathers once the banquet let out. The reality of the shock though was out of fear. For some reason the words that Harry had just spoken seemed to be morbidly true to the Slytherins in the hall. For the first time in their pathetic lives of bigotry, they actually questioned whether they wanted to live the lives of their parents.

Harry couldn't stand to be the hall for one more second. Instead of sitting back down, he turned around and left the hall followed closely by Ginny and Ron. He just didn't want to be in the same room as anybody from Slytherin anymore. Their fathers' had just killed one of best friends and were probably planning ways to kill more people now. They were to blame solely for the problems in the world today.

"Harry, do you have any idea how scary that speech was? The Slytherins looked like they feared you," Ginny said from behind him.

"To be honest, how scared they are doesn't matter to me right now. They are still well on their way to being dark wizards like their parents so I don't care. It was hard enough not to just jinx them all right then; I really don't want to think about them anymore right now."

"That's the thing though; they seemed scared for their lives, like they thought that you are more powerful than you-know-who. I don't know if it had anything to do with this power you are supposed to be getting but that speech was really convincing," said Ron.

"Look I just want to go to my dorm and sleep alright." The rest of the trip was made in silence all the way to common room where Harry went up the steps and into his dorm to sleep. He didn't hear Ginny mutter to Ron, "he doesn't understand the impact that his speech is going to have." He just wanted the day to be over, but things could never be that easy for him. He found a book with a note on lying on his bed.

_Take some time off of class and study this book. It has every bit of magic in it that you could ever dream of doing. We will work on it when you have finished with this book._

_-Dumbledore_

He didn't even bother opening the book. He put it in his trunk and went to sleep. He would spend all day tomorrow going through the book. When he laid down in his bed, it took a matter of seconds for him to fall into a deep sleep.

The next morning Ron woke Harry up for breakfast but Harry told him he wasn't going. Ron just shrugged him off and headed out of the dormitory. Harry got out of bed and pulled the book out of his trunk. Since he was already up he figured he might as well start now on a long day of reading. He read the book front to back through the day not stopping for lunch or even to go to the bathroom. He read about magic that attacked groups of people at a time, spells that would throw a massive attack; like a firestorm, how to make things appear and disappear, how to perform legilmancy, and the last chapter was on wandless magic but the book said that it was just a theory and nobody had been able to do it before. Plus it would only be able to be used for small spells if he could do it. He had just finished reading when he heard the door open and footsteps approaching his bed. The curtains were thrown open to the sight of an angry Ginny Weasley.

"Have you been reading that book all day?" she asked him pointing at the book that he had just closed not ten seconds before she walked in.

"Yeah, I just finished it too. I was just going to come down to the common room when you came up." He said hoping that she wasn't going to explode at him with her horrible Weasley temper.

"Harry, we are all hurting too. You can't just skip class though. We all need you. Don't you understand what you mean to people?" He could tell she would be yelling soon if he didn't play his cards right.

"Gin, Dumbledore told me to skip classes today so I could read this book. It is on all the new magic that he wants me to learn now that I have my hidden powers. I had to finish it before we could continue our lessons." He thought that would satisfy her but from the look on her face, she was far from satisfied.

"You could have at least come to breakfast, lunch or dinner! Everyone thought you were up here sulking because of Hermione. I know you probably don't care what people think you are doing but you need to realize that you are the last hope for everybody. If they think you are losing it, they get crazy because they think that Voldemort is going to be able to beat you. Not to mention the fact that I was worried sick about you all day long but why would Harry Potter care about his girlfriend's feelings." She finally looked happy that she had said everything that was on her mind so Harry decided to speak again.

"I'm sorry that I didn't say anything to you. I just wanted to get done with this book so that I can get all of this Voldemort stuff in my life behind me. I want everyone to be safe again and I especially want you to be safe so that we can finally have a normal relationship without all of the worry. Now do you want to go down to the common room or do you want to stay up here and continue to yell at me?"

"Let's stay up here but I'm done yelling."

She laid down next to him on the bed and curled up as close to him as she could. He wrapped his arm around her and fell to sleep with her in his arms.

The next morning Harry went down to breakfast looking as happy as someone who just lost their best friend could look. Everyone in the hall noticed the positive attitude around and was sort of taken aback. Was he the same kid that spent yesterday locked up in his dormitory all day? His attitude seemed to put everyone else into a better mood. The real shock of the morning was when a large group Slytherins came over to the Gryffindor table looking friendly. One of them stuck out their hand for Harry to take which he did not right away.

"Theodore Nott, I am sorry for how I have acted and ask your forgiveness. You said a couple days ago that we had better all decide which side we are on and now we all know. I am afraid that Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle won't be switching sides anytime soon but most every Slytherin is." Finally Harry shook the kid's hand.

"I think Hermione would be honored to know that her death brought on a little unity between the houses. She always wanted that. You will need to talk with Dumbledore about your safety considering who your father is, but I am happy to have you on our side. I trust you for now but don't blow it because there is no getting it back." The Slytherins returned to their table and Harry left the hall for Dumbledore's office. He arrived in the office and was shocked to see the Snape was there as well as Dumbledore.

"Professor, I need to apologize to you. I never really believed that you were on our side. While it hurts that Hermione is dead, I thank you for helping her."

Snape was lost at what to say. Since when did a Potter apologize for anything? He just nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"I assume you have finished the book, Harry." He nodded his head. "Then we shall begin to practice what you read. I don't think that there is any of it that you can't do. Now I would like you to stun Severus and I with the same spell."

Harry tried the spell but could only manage to get Dumbledore stunned. He tried again with the same result.

"Perhaps we should start small. Try to make the desk disappear, Potter," suggested Snape. Harry tried but failed to get rid of the desk. He was confused about why this wasn't working. Hermione was dead so now he should have his power. Unless she wasn't dead yet! They could just be torturing her for information right now and she could be alive. The thought of them doing that to Hermione angered him and the next second the desk was gone.

"Very good, Potter. Give me your wand for a second." Harry handed Snape his wand and then stepped back. He wanted to try something out. He thought about the spell for stunning both Snape and Dumbledore and then they hit the floor. When they regained consciousness, Dumbledore was smiling.

"There appears to be no limits to your magic, Harry. Meet me here again tomorrow at the same time and we will fine tune this new power."

A/N: Sorry this took so long to come out. I got into a run in with my school and it has kept me pretty busy this week. The good news is that I have the next chapter written already so all I have to do it type it on to my computer and it will be out much sooner than this one took. As a positive though it is the longest chapter yet and it leaves hope for those of you that catch it. Once again I remind you that your reviews aren't going to change the main idea but it can change minor details. I already have the main ideas done and planned out. Please Review though because I like to see what you think of the story.


	16. Challenge Issued

Chapter 16: Challenge Issued

Harry spent nearly all of his class time working with Dumbledore for the next month so that he could master his new powers. After a couple of weeks he had begun to get a very strong hold on them and could out duel Dumbledore. By the end of the month Harry was beating Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall at the same time. At that point they all decided that the private lessons were not needed anymore. The truth behind the move was that Dumbledore no longer had any idea of what to teach Harry as he had mastered everything that he could do. The plan was to send him back to regular Defense Against the Dark Arts class so that everyone else could see his new ability. Everyone's hope was that the students would come out of the slight depression of the war if they saw what Harry was capable of.

Ginny was not sharing Harry's success. She had managed to pick up on a couple of the things that he recently learned but no more and she was no master at what she did learn. She would continue to have lessons with Dumbledore, except now alone instead of with Harry. Harry could tell that it frustrated her that she couldn't pick up on the things that he was learning half as fast as he did. He tried to tell her that she shouldn't expect so much of herself but it didn't help her at all. He could see the desire and the frustration in her eyes and it pained him to know that couldn't do anything to help her. He also felt a little bit guilty because he had given next to know effort in learning this new magic and she had busted her butt with no success.

Aside from their lessons, both Harry and Ginny, were keeping a close eye on Ron to make sure that he was hanging in there. They could see that he was definitely not the same person that he had been but that was to be expected. He was still getting by though and that was all that could really be expected of him for now. He continued with his normal schedule but all of his emotions seemed to be shut off. Not even the upcoming quidditch match with Slytherin got any rise out of him. The only time that he did seem to be a little bit alive was during quidditch practice when he could shut his mind off from everything that was happening around him. After the last practice before the match, Harry decided he needed to have a team meeting to really get his team pumped up for the match.

"Look everyone, I know things have been hard the last month but we get a chance to take out some of our aggression tomorrow. Remember that most of the Slytherin players have family that are death eaters. Tomorrow is our chance to get a small victory in this battle. When we step on the pitch tomorrow, we are playing for Hermione."

Nobody said anything when he was done but he was confident that he had gotten his message across. The look of determination on everyone's faces the next day confirmed his suspicions. They were all ready to go out and beat the hell out of Slytherin. The nervousness that Harry typically felt before a quidditch match was non-existent. He had no worries today because there was simply no way that he would let Malfoy get to the snitch before he did. There was just no way that he would let his team lose this match in the memory of Hermione.

The beating began as soon as Madam Hooch blew the whistle to start the game. Ginny got the quaffle and made a nice last second pass to Katie who scored on a wide open shot. Gryffindor got the quick 10-0 lead and would never relinquish that lead. The chasers dominated the game from start to finish. Harry decided that beating Malfoy wasn't enough; he wanted to play with him a little bit first. He pulled into a huge dive that Malfoy followed immediately before Harry pulled out last second. It was too late for Malfoy to do that same and he took a sickening hit into the ground.

After about ten minutes Malfoy was ready to take back to the air. Unfortunately as soon as he got off the ground a bludger came pelting at him off the bat of Jimmy Peakes. The bludger made contact with the side of Malfoy's face and he was ushered right back to the ground. There would be no return for him this time giving Harry free reign to take his time catching the snitch. Having victory more or less secured with Malfoy's exit Harry took his time catching the snitch. He wanted to make sure that his team got the full enjoyment of beating down Slytherin before he ended the game. Harry caught the snitch after about a half hour when the Gryffindors were already leading 170-30 making the final score 320-30. It was the biggest defeat that Gryffindor had ever had over their rival Slytherins. Harry dismounted his broom by his teammates when Crabbe and Goyle walked by him with the now conscious Malfoy.

"You won this but you don't stand a chance at living, Potter. You will end up just like Granger and your parents." Malfoy had his usual sneer despite the fact that he blood covering the side of his face.

"I like the look Malfoy. Your dad looked a lot like that when I sent him to Azkaban." Malfoy paled.

"Don't talk about my father or the Dark Lord won't get his chance to kill you!" Malfoy yelled at him.

"Just tell him I said hello. How about that?"

"Maybe he will be saying hello to you sooner than you think."

Malfoy walked away and Harry felt even better than he had before Malfoy talked to him. He hoped that the death eaters did decide to attack him. He would like nothing more than to take care of the people that captured his best friend. If they attacked him it would just make Voldemort more vulnerable with his army in the custody of the ministry. All he feared was that another one of his friends would get hurt in the fight.

"Do you think he will attack over Christmas?" Ginny asked bringing him back to reality.

"It wouldn't surprise me. He would have a hard time attacking me while I am here so I can only assume he will try then. It will only making things easier in the end if they did decide to attack me."

"We should tell mom and dad so they will be ready for an attack," said Ron.

"No. I won't be joining you at the Burrow for Christmas. I will take a room at the Leaky Cauldron so you all will be safe. He wants me and that is exactly what he will get." He said it in a way that made it very clear to everyone that there was no arguing his decision. Ginny just put on a sad face and went to change but didn't say anything. Obviously she was disappointed that her boyfriend wouldn't be spending Christmas with her and instead would be putting himself in danger while he was all alone.

The next weekend they all boarded the Hogwarts Express to head back to London. Harry asked Dumbledore if he could just floo to the Leaky Cauldron so that he could get everything set up during the day but he said no. He wanted Harry on the train in case the death eaters decided to attack the students during the trip. Harry, Ginny, and Ron got a compartment to themselves and were just relaxing when all of the sudden the train came to a stop. They looked out of the windows and couldn't see anything. The only other time this happened there were dementors coming onto the train but they couldn't see any out of the windows.

"What is going on? There is nothing out there. You don't think the train broke down do you?" said Ginny sounding quite worried. Harry looked out the window again and saw why the train had come to a stop. There were ten death eaters walking outside the train looking into the windows, probably looking for him and his friends.

"Stay here. Do not leave this compartment unless you are under attack. Take my invisibility cloak just to be safe. Ginny, promise me that you won't leave this compartment to help me." She nodded her head to say that she wouldn't and Harry turned to leave.

Harry left the compartment and then magically locked the door so that nobody could get inside the door. He sent a patronus to Dumbledore to warn him of the attack and send help if it would be needed. He left the safety of the train and came face to face with the group of masked men knowing full well that Ron and Ginny would have a perfect view of the battle that was to come.

"I see Tom was too scared to make an appearance today. Now what do you all want because I have places to go?"

"You have just given us what we want, Potter. I hope you are prepared to die." He could tell that it was Lucius Malfoy and a let smile appear on his face.

"Unfortunately I am not ready to die quite yet. As I said I have places to go today. You gits gave me all the power I need when you killed my best friend. She was the heir of Ravenclaw. I am sure that Tom had to have known that we were looking for the heir and then he did the final part for us."

"Correct Potter. However, you don't have the power that you think." He grabbed one of the hooded figures and threw them to the ground in front of Harry. The hood came off and Harry was stunned at who was in front of him. Hermione was lying on the ground unconscious but clearly not dead. Harry came out of shock and decided that the conversation was over. He gave a flick of his wand and Hermione was sent to the compartment with Ron and Ginny.

The death eaters all sent hexes at Harry that he lazily blocked with another flip of the wrist. A third flick and the death eaters' wands came flying to him. The fourth flick and all of the wands were gone. One final flick and the now stunned death eaters were literally stunned and bound in an anti-apparition ropes just as Dumbledore had done at the ministry the year before. He pulled all of their masks off to discover that he had captured Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Rookwood, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott along with three others that he didn't recognize.

"Malfoy, I am going to let you go. Give Tom a little message for me. Tell Tom that the next time he wants to attack me and my friends that he better show his ugly half-blood face. Tell him that his pathetic death eaters are no longer a match for me. Do you think that you can handle that?" Malfoy showed no response but Harry freed him anyway. "I am sending you to your home now. After you deliver my message I will give you your wand back. I will know if you told your master." He waved his wand again and Malfoy disappeared like Hermione had. The next second Dumbledore showed up looking quite impressed.

"You sent the patronus less than five minutes ago, very impressive. I will take it from here if you will return to your friends on the train."

"No problem, sir. Only one thing though. I think that you should stop by the Burrow tonight. I need to discuss something with you about Hermione. It seems that she is alive." Dumbledore looked startled at that information.

"I will indeed stop by then, however, you will all be staying at Grimmauld Place so that you may stay with them and still be safe. Good-bye for now then."

A/N: Do not think that I did this for all of you because I didn't. I had all of this planned out from the beginning and I had been hinting at it since I 'killed' Hermione. I told you not to jump to conclusions in my A/N after that chapter. Straight up, I could never kill Ron, Hermione, or Ginny. While J.K. may decide to kill one of them in book 7, I won't do it in mine. It is far too sad of an event to do.


	17. Back to Grimmauld Place

Chapter 17: Back to Grimmauld Place

Harry made his way back onto the train to find everybody waiting for him in the hallways staring at him in absolute shocked silence. It was nothing that he didn't expect being that he had just unarmed and captured nine death eaters with all of them watching from the train windows. Finally Dean Thomas worked up the nerve to break the silence.

"Where did you learn to fight like that Harry?"

"You knew I had lessens with Dumbledore. Did you think that we were discussing different quidditch strategies? This is my job. I had to learn to fight like that or the world would never be the same."

"Could you teach us to fight like that?" asked a little third year that he had never seen before.

"I doubt it. I don't have any spare time with quidditch and homework." He really didn't feel like telling them that the real reason was that they wouldn't possess enough power to perform the magic that he was now doing.

"You had time last year. You know Dumbledore wouldn't care if you restarted the D.A. so what's the problem?" piped in a fifth year Slytherin. He could now see that he had no choice but to be honest with them.

"Alright fine if you won't just accept my answer then I will have to give you the real reason for it. I can't teach you this magic because you wouldn't be able to perform it. Most of the things that I learned not even Dumbledore could do. He just helped me to master the theory of the magic and then I had to teach myself how to do it practically. Very few wizards have ever been able to do the magic that I can do." He really didn't want people to think that he was bragging but they had left him no choice but to tell them the truth. The last thing he wanted though was for someone to go off and tell the Daily Profit what he had just told them.

"Can you-know-who do it?" Harry didn't see who said it but everyone's head turned immediately to Harry in anticipation of his answer, obviously hoping that he said no.

"Dumbledore has never seen him do any of it. In truth, Merlin is the only other person to have successfully done some of what I can do. Not even he took it to the level that I can though. Please, don't think I am bragging though. I am just trying to tell you the truth because you deserve that much." He was tired of this conversation now and he wanted to see if Hermione was conscious yet. He walked inside of the compartment with Ron, Ginny, and Hermione and quickly shut the door to keep them out. To his relief, he saw that Hermione was in fact conscious but just barely. She looked horrible in truth. She was leaning against Ron for support. Harry sat down next to Ginny and pulled her close to him.

"Thank you for staying in here," he whispered into her ear. "I would never let you get hurt." She hugged him tight before leaning up to give him a kiss.

"I love you," she whispered back to him. He just held her for a moment and then turned towards Hermione.

"Hermione are you ok? What did they do to you?"

She looked extremely hesitant to answer at first but eventually did. "They never beat me but they did use the cruciatus curse quite a lot. I haven't eaten much either. They gave me just enough to live and nothing more." Her voice was incredibly weak and it made Harry want to hurt all of the death eaters that he had just captured. How could somebody do this to another human being and not feel any guilt about it. Worse yet, they thought that they were doing the right thing! Not to mention the fact that he felt it was his fault that she had been captured. She gave herself up because she thought it would help him. She went through all of this for nothing though because Harry got his power without her death. Ron then got up from beside her.

"I'll go get you something to eat from the trolley." Hermione looked at him gratefully and she gave him a smile. As soon as he left the compartment she broke down into tears.

"I am so sorry, Harry. This is all my fault. Voldemort used legilmancy on me and discovered that killing me would only be hurting himself. Because of me, you will never get the power that you need to kill him. It's my fault if you die trying to kill him." She was now crying too hard to talk. Harry was confused at how she thought that he didn't have his power when he had just defeated nine death eaters without getting so much as a scratch on his body.

"Hermione calm down. Did you not see I just did out there?" She shook her head. "Well let's just say that you don't need to worry about me not getting my powers. You gave it to me. The thought of one of my friends getting killed set something off inside me and I have been able to do anything I want with a wand since. Dumbledore and I were wrong about what my missing link was. If anybody is to blame for what has happened in the last month it is me. I let my friend try to sacrifice herself for me with no proof that it would do anything. I let you get tortured for the last month." Her crying was slowing down now.

"I'll make you a deal. If you stop feeling guilty for what happened then so will I. Do you think you can do that?" Harry smiled and pulled her into a hug.

"I've missed you so much Hermione," he whispered to her.

"Ok you can stop trying to steal my girlfriend now Potter. Here's some food Hermione. Don't eat too much or you will get sick."

Neither Harry nor Hermione had heard Ron enter the compartment. Hermione grabbed the food and began to slowly eat. Harry rejoined Ginny on her seat across from Hermione. This was all such a huge relief to Harry. Today really couldn't have gone any better had he planned it all out. He had captured eight death eaters and sent them to the ministry for them to deal with. Then he discovered that Hermione, while being in bad shape, would not suffer any lasting harm from the events of the last month. He wrapped his arms around Ginny and fell asleep with her head on his shoulder.

He awoke to the sound of the train's horn announcing that they were back in London. He opened his eyes to utter darkness. He could make out Ron and Hermione sleeping together across from him and he could feel Ginny in his arms. He shook her lightly to wake her up.

"We're back in London. Wake Ron and Hermione up and I will take care of our trunks." He got up and pulled out his wand. He gave it a casual flick and all three trunks disappeared to Grimmauld Place, as Hermione's was at her parents home since everybody thought that she was dead. Once the train had finally come to a complete stop, the four of them got off the train lazily, Ron was helping Hermione. They saw Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, and Mrs. Weasley all waiting for them. Every one of them all of the sudden looked between shock and happiness as they noticed that Hermione was with them. Obviously Dumbledore had not been able to contact them about the attack on the train. Mrs. Weasley ran over to them and pulled Hermione into a hug.

"How did this happen? No worries now, let's just get to the car." She turned around and began walking away. Harry caught up to her.

"We have to go to Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore suggested it. I will explain more when we get in the car." Mrs. Weasley just nodded her head realizing that it was for the safety of their family. Realization finally struck to Harry that he was going to get to spend Christmas with the Weasleys after all. For the first time he was happy to be heading to Grimmauld Place. He followed the rest of the Weasleys to the ministry cars and got in with Ginny and Mrs. Weasley. He didn't want to have to tell the story to Mrs. Weasley with Hermione in the car. Harry thought that Mrs. Weasley dealt with hearing the story quite well. He knew it was probably hard for her to hear about Hermione being tortured but she his her emotions the best she could which Harry was thankful for since it wasn't the easiest story to tell in the first place. Once it got silent Harry began wondering what Dumbledore would say about Hermione still being alive. Obviously he would be happy to have her back but what if they had to send her back to the death eaters? What was he thinking; of course they wouldn't send her back. He had all the power he could ever need and there was no reason to get selfish and try for more. Even if he could get more power; he would rather have his friend. Once inside Grimmauld Place, Harry and Hermione went straight to the kitchen and found Dumbledore waiting for them.

"Safe trip the rest of the way I assume?" Harry nodded his head and Dumbledore continued. "Ok, to business then. How many of them were there Harry?"

"Nine. I captured them all but I let Malfoy go so he could send a message to Voldemort for me."

"What was the message?" Dumbledore looked worry that Harry did something dumb so as to lead Voldemort after him.

"Basically, I told him that if he was going to send his death eaters at me then he better come with them. I am tired of this war and I can't end it unless he attacks me."

"I understand how you feel, Harry, but you can't send him threats like that. You are putting yourself in danger and possibly your friends. I don't expect that he will take you up on your challenge anyway though. I believe that he fears you more than you fear him. Expect nothing more than death eater attacks."

"Sir, if I lessened his army, do you think he would attack me then?"

"What are you asking me, Harry?" The look on the old man's face clearly showed that he knew what Harry was suggesting but didn't like the idea.

"Well if when they attacked me, I killed them, he wouldn't have much left to send at me. I know that killing isn't right but it may be our only choice. They are killing us and the only way for us to put fear in their minds is if we fight fire with fire."

"Once again, I understand what you are talking about but I just don't like the idea of killing other people. If we capture his army then he still loses members."

"But then he will just set them free! We can not win this war if we don't get rid of the enemy. Voldemort is very powerful but he can not control the world without an army." Harry looked quite frustrated now that Dumbledore was not agreeing with him. Harry was the one that had to end this war and it would be easier if the death eaters were eliminated before his final battle with Voldemort.

"We shall go to the ministry tomorrow and discuss this more with the minister. Now, Hermione, why did they let you live? I apologize for the bluntness."

"He used legilmancy on me and discovered what my death would have done for Harry. He thinks he has won this war by letting me go."

"He will no longer believe that when Lucius delivers Harry's message. Very well, it is wonderful to have you back Miss Granger," and with that Dumbledore apparated out of the kitchen.

A/N: Another chapter done! I am just going to tell you now that the next chapter might take a little more time because I am having a little bit of writer's block and baseball has started up for me. My coach seems to like the idea of two-a-day practices. Hopefully I will have it for you next weekend though. Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter. Keep it up and review with the same vigor that you did for the last one!


	18. Christmas Trips

Chapter 18: Christmas Trips

The next morning Harry woke up and got ready to speak with the minister of magic. Being honest with himself, he wasn't even sure that he could kill somebody so he wasn't sure how he could argue that it was the right thing to do. It is hard to convince somebody else of something when you are not fully convinced in the first place. He knew that he did in fact have the power to kill somebody, but he wasn't sure that he had the mental power to do so. Even though these people were evil he still felt that killing was very wrong. He knew killing them would make the world a much safer place and get this war over with much quicker though. Not to mention the fact that he was already destined to become a killer if he wanted to live. He wasn't sure if that counted though because he wasn't really sure that Voldemort counted as a human being. You had to actually have a conscience to be human and Voldemort clearly lacked that.

When Dumbledore walked into the dining room, he grabbed Harry by the arm and they disappeared with a POP. They arrived at the ministry and went through all of the same security measures that he had done the previous year before his trial for underage magic. This time, however, they did not take the elevator down but instead walked down the hallway behind the counter and came to the minister's office. They knocked on the door and were greeted by a smiling secretary. She led them into the minister's office and they both took their seats. Kingsley Shacklebolt walked through the door across from them and took a seat on the opposite side of the desk.

"Hello, Dumbledore, Mr. Potter. What is it that I can do for you today?" He extended his hand and Dumbledore shook it.

"Mr. Potter has an idea on strategy for the war against Voldemort and his death eaters," replied Dumbledore. Shacklebolt looked shocked that he was about to take advice from a student at Hogwarts.

"What do you propose? Nice work with the death eaters on the train by the way. You saved a lot of people yesterday."

"Thank you, minister. The question I have is that the death eaters have the advantage in this war because, unlike us, they are willing to kill people for their cause so why don't we fight fire with fire? If when we capture them, we kill them, then Voldemort will lose his army very quickly. He will have to be more careful of where he attacks and it will limit how much he can attack." The minister was now quite pale. Obviously of all strategies he expected to hear, this was not one of them. He looked to be in deep thought before he replied to Harry.

"I understand where you are coming from but it just seems like the wrong thing to do. The reason that we consider them to be evil is that they kill people. What happens if we end up killing one of them and then find out later that he was under the Imperius Curse?"

"I am not saying that we should kill them right away. I am also not suggesting that we go out and hunt them down to kill them like they do to us. That would be crossing the line. What I am saying is that when they attack us, if they are captured we kill them. We can run tests on them to check if they are doing it on their own will but we can't just let them go free. The only other solution is that we find some way to rid them of their powers but since we know longer have control of the dementors, it is no longer possible."

Shacklebolt looked like he was struggling with the idea while Harry appeared ready to come up with another retort to him. Shacklebolt looked at Dumbledore dejectedly.

"What do you think about this? Do we have another choice?"

"I do not like it. I don't think killing people is commonly the answer. However, I do understand his point. We are having people killed and we owe it to their families to take care of this as quickly as possible. The difference between the killing that Harry is suggesting and what the death eaters do is that we will not be doing it with the malicious intent. We are doing it to save our world. I only have two stipulations; no underage wizard will be allowed to kill unless they are in a life and death situation and all prisoners must be checked for the use of the Imperius Curse before hand." Harry looked satisfied as did Shacklebolt.

"We shall go by those rules then. When death eaters are captured they will be checked by one of our aurors before being put to death. We will start with the group that you captured yesterday, Potter. Good day to you both."

Harry and Dumbledore both stood and left the office. Once outside Dumbledore apparated them back to Grimmauld Place. He placed a hand on Harry's shoulder and Harry looked up at him.

"Harry, you need to realize that you will not be looked upon as an of-age wizard. You will not be allowed to kill them before you bring them in. Trust me when I say that you will not want to be the one that ends their lives. It is a horrible feeling to take another's life." He looked sad as though remembering a very painful memory. Harry assumed it was his defeat of Grindelwald.

"I promise you, I will being them alive any time that I can."

Dumbledore nodded his head and then disapparated, leaving Harry alone in the middle of the kitchen. He sat down and thought about the meeting that he had just taken part in. He thought about how this would affect their war effort. For one thing, Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius's killer, would be put to death along with seven others from Voldemort's inner circle. All Harry was really hoping would come out of this would be fewer attacks by Voldemort. He was pretty confident that Voldemort wouldn't send any more death eaters at Harry or his friends knowing that Harry would be able to dispose of them quite easily. It made him feel good to know that it would make his friends just a little bit safer. It felt to him that the side of the light had just taken the upper-hand in this war and if he had anything to do with it, they wouldn't be giving it up.

No more attacks had happened over break. The biggest tremor caused by the Daily Prophet was a story about the killing of the eight death eaters by the ministry. It was good to know that the biggest story was finally one of a positive not for them. All of the sudden people were feeling much more optimistic about the war. They felt that the end of it may actually be in sight and that they could win. More people were volunteering to fight for their cause. It had also done just as Harry had hoped in slowing down the movement of the death eaters since they had not been heard from since the attack on the train.

The whole situation had the Weasleys in an overly festive mood for Christmas. On Christmas morning Harry had been woken up by Ginny running into his room and jumping into his bed. She gave him a kiss and he opened his eyes.

"What are you so excited for, Gin? Can't I get some sleep when I want it?" Harry asked still a little groggy.

"It's Christmas morning you grump! Get up so we can open out presents together and then go down to breakfast." The joy in her voice was quite obvious and it got Harry up a little more. She reminded him of a little kid the way she was acting.

"You know I could get used to waking up with you in my bed. I'm going to be quite disappointed tomorrow when I wake up all alone." She blushed and pulled him out of bed. He had a pile of presents in front of his bed and she had brought hers into his room to open them together. They began tearing through all of the paper. Harry had received the usual sweater and truffle from Mrs. Weasley. Ron gave him a book on all kinds of different moves for a seeker. He found it odd that Ron had given him a book but it was about quidditch after all. Hermione had given him a photo book filled with pictures of him, Ron and Hermione. The newer ones had Ginny in them as well. Fred and George had given him loads of products again. Ginny grabbed his hand.

"I'll give you yours after dinner. We need to get down to breakfast now though." Harry hadn't given Ginny hers yet either. He followed her down the stairs to two empty chairs. They sat down and Harry looked around at everyone. They all looked to be so happy and carefree. It made Harry happy to know that his family was enjoying the holiday instead of worrying about the war. He put a smile on his face and ate breakfast.

After breakfast was over, Harry and Ginny went up to his room and just laid down together. Ron had gone with Hermione to see her parents, so now the two of them had some alone time. They didn't talk, just laid together enjoying being in each other's arms. After dinner, they returned to his room to pass out their gifts to each other. Harry pulled out a small box and Ginny started breathing heavily. He smiled knowing what she thought was in the box. He opened it and gave her a plain silver ring.

"It's a promise ring. We are too young for me to give you the ring that you thought was in there but hopefully one day I will. That is why I wanted to give you this. I don't want to be with anybody else, just you." She smiled as he put the ring onto her finger.

"Thank you, Harry. I love you so much." She gave him a kiss and then reached for a small book. "Now for yours. I talked to Dumbledore and he said it would be alright if I did this. This isn't just a book, it is a port key. As soon as you take it will take us where I want to take you."

"Where are we going?"

"It's to Godric's Hollow. I thought that you would like to see where your parents are buried. We don't have to go now but if you want to we can. It will activate when you touch it."

He pulled her close to him, "let's go." He touched the portkey and they were gone from his room. They landed in front of two headstones. They were standing right in front of Harry's parents' headstones.

"I'll leave you alone for a while. Come to me when you are ready to leave." She walked away so that Harry could have some alone time with his parents.

"Mom, dad, I miss you so much. I just wish that I could have talked to you even once. I found a family that took me and treats me great but I wish that you were still here so badly. Their daughter brought me here. She is amazing. I think you would like her." He just stared at the headstones for a couple of minutes and then got up. "I need to get back to her but I will be back. I love you guys."

He got up and walked over to Ginny. She gave him a hug and he cried into her shoulder. She grabbed the portkey and it took them back. She laid him down in his bed and gave him a kiss. She turned to leave but he stopped her.

"Don't leave me alone, Gin. I really wanted to see their graves but it was still hard." She turned back around and climbed into bed with him. "Thank you so much. I love you."

He gave her a kiss that she returned. Things started to get more passionate and no interruptions came to stop them this time. Ginny pulled off his shirt and began kissing down his chest. Harry's hands were exploring up her shirt and he took it off. Once they were both down to nothing but their underwear, Harry grabbed his wand and used a contraceptive spell on Ginny and then put a silencing charm on the room.

A/N: I am not going to go any further than that as it leaves little doubt as to what happens. This is not a smut story and if that is what you are looking for you are on the wrong site. If you are one of the people that are wanting more action in this story than you only have to wait one more chapter. Next chapter gets into action big time as will the one after it. I know that I said that this wouldn't be out till next weekend but I overcame my writer's block so her you go. I hope you liked this chapter and if you did review it please. If you didn't like this chapter review and tell me why. Thanks to all of the people that have been reviewing this story on a consistent basis. It is much appreciated.


	19. Hogwarts Express Again or Not

Chapter 19: Hogwarts Express Again; or Not

Harry awoke the next day with the feeling of skin touching his bare skin. He opened his eyes and saw the beautiful red hair of Ginny. The events of the previous night came flooding into his mind. Seeing his parents' graves had been extremely hard on him but yet it was something that he needed to do. While it did hurt at the time, it made him feel much better now. That night was definitely the best of his young life. He had already loved Ginny but now he felt like he was connected to her in a completely new way and forever. The thought put a smile on his face. He never wanted to be without Ginny. She made him want to live through this war. He needed her to live. He felt her begin to stir and then her eyes opened, staring straight at him.

"Morning gorgeous," he said smiling.

"How long have you been awake?" She sounded barely conscious and Harry thought it was extremely cute.

"Only a couple minutes. I didn't want to wake you up." She smiled at him but then a different look took over her features, worry.

"Do you regret what happened last night, Harry?" He could tell she was very worried that he would say yes. He didn't even have to think about his answer.

"Of course not. I don't regret anything with you. I love you more than I love life itself. Last night was the best night of my life." The smile crept back onto her face and she gave him a kiss. He was relieved to know that she didn't regret it either. He had no clue what he would have done or said if she had told him that she thought it was a mistake.

"Good because I most certainly don't either. Let's go get some breakfast." She said while grabbing her clothes.

The rest of vacation went by quickly and with no major events happening. It got Harry a little bit worried to know that Voldemort still had no attacked anybody. He hoped that it was because he was still scared that he would begin to slowly lose his death eaters but he was beginning to think it was because he was planning something big. If he wanted to make a small attack he would have had more than enough time to plot something over Christmas and he had done nothing. He wasn't scared for his own life but for those of his friends. The last thing he wanted to happen was to have one of his friends hurt or worse killed. When the time came for the return trip to Hogwarts, Harry became extremely nervous.

"Calm down, Harry. He isn't going to try anything on you after what happened last time. He can't risk losing his whole army to you, can he?" Ginny told him while they were riding in the back of a ministry car. Her comforting did absolutely nothing for him, however.

"I hope you're right but if you aren't then please just get away. Don't stick around and try to fight them. All three of you just get on the train and lock your compartment so that nobody can get to you. I am more than capable of defending myself against them but they could get one of you. Please promise me that you won't try to fight." Ron, Hermione, and Ginny looked at each other and then reluctantly nodded their heads.

When the ministry car that they had all been in finally came to a stop, they left the safety of the car. Harry had already sent all of their trunks to Hogwarts before they left Grimmauld Place so they didn't have to worry about carrying extra weight with them. They quickly got through the barrier and stopped to say good-bye to Mrs. Weasley.

"Mrs. Weasley, please stay at Grimmauld Place when we leave. You are not safe at the Burrow even though it is your home. Please, it would take a lot of worry off of my shoulders." Harry was pleading with her.

"I am the one that is supposed to be worrying about you, dear. If it will make you feel better I will stay there though. Have a good rest of the year and try to stay out of trouble."

She gave each of them a hug and a tear ran down her face as they turned to leave her behind again. She would have to hope for Dumbledore to keep them safe now. Ron, Hermione, Ginny were on the train when a commotion took place behind them. Screams were heard and Harry turned around to see five death eaters standing by the barrier. He shut the door and locked it so that the other three were locked inside the train and nobody could get on it either. He now didn't have to worry about any of them getting off the train to help him fight. He turned around and saw hexes flying his way which he casually deflected away with his wand. This was it; he had to kill them this time. There were too many people that would get hurt if he dragged this fight on too long and killing them would end it the quickest.

He spotted one of them hiding behind a pillar and shot a killing curse at him while he was turned around. The death eater fell to the ground with no more life left in his body. He heard the train leave behind him and his last worry was gone. All of the students were now safe. He dodged a spell that came from behind him and turned around to shoot a killing curse right back in the direction of the spell without even looking. It took the death eater by surprise and he fell dead just as his partner had. He had now taken down two of them; just three left. Just as he was about to send another killing curse at a third death eater he heard his name called out.

"Drop the wand, Potter." He didn't recognize the voice but turned to meet it anyway. The sight before him made his stomach turnover. More fear passed through his body than ever before. A death eater had Mrs. Weasley by the neck and had his wand pointed straight at her face. She was completely helpless. "You heard me boy. Drop it now or I kill her right now. I have no interest in her but I also have no problem killing her if you aren't going to cooperate."

Harry didn't really have a choice at his point. He had to drop his wand. There was simply no way that he could take the chance that the death eater would kill her. She had been like the mother that he never had. Just as he was about to drop his wand, Mrs. Weasley spoke.

"Don't do it, Harry. You are more important that I am. You have to live, not me." She was now pleading with him like he had for her to stay at Grimmauld Place.

"Shut you mouth, woman!" The death eater shook her until she stopped talking. His wand was now pressing into her neck.

"If I drop my wand, how do I know that you are going to let her go anyway? Forgive me, but I seem to have a hard time believing you considering you have killed so many people that are close to me anyway." Mrs. Weasley's eyes went wide with shock and fear as she realized that he was seriously considering sacrificing himself for her.

"You are just going to have to overcome that little insecurity, Potter. If you don't drop your wand, I can guarantee you that I will kill her. It's your choice to make."

"My mind is telling me to just kill you and your two remaining buddies. What do you plan to do about that?" He could tell that the death eater was beginning to get worried. He had the upper hand in the situation but Harry's taunts were starting to get to him.

"You may do that but you will then have to explain to your little girlfriend why her mother is dead. Something tells me that she wouldn't be too happy with you for sacrificing her. You know you don't really have a choice in this so why don't you just stop playing games with me."

Harry's face fell. The death eater was right. He couldn't risk taking Ginny's mother from her. He knew what it was like to have no mother and he didn't want to put Ginny through the same pain that he had from it. He also knew that it was going to hurt her that he had been captured but it was his only choice. He would stand a chance at breaking free from the death eaters where as Mrs. Weasley didn't. He just hoped he would be able to get free quickly so as not to worry Ginny too much.

Harry did the only thing that his heart told him he could do and dropped his wand. The death eater summoned it right away but it stopped right before it got to him. It turned and came flying back to Harry along with the death eater's wand. The death eater was too shocked to respond but his partner behind Harry wasn't stunned in the slightest. He sent a stunner at Harry and he fell to the ground. Mrs. Weasley let out a scream as she saw him fall. The death eater that had been holding her captive let her go and she began to run to Harry. Before she could get there the third death eater stunned her. She could see the three of them approaching the boy that she had considered a seventh son but could not actually see Harry. The death eaters cuffed his hands and then brought him back to life.

"I hope you enjoyed your life because this is it for you. My master will reward me beyond my wildest dreams. I am about to accomplish what he has failed to do for the last 15 years." The man reminded Harry so much of Barty Crouch Jr. that it was sickening. He had said more of less the exact same thing after Harry had come out of the maze in this fourth year. "Any last words Potter."

"Do you realize how pathetic you are? You run around trying to cleanse the wizarding world while you follow a half-blood leader. Do you ever even think about the fact that if he wasn't leading you, he would be on your hit list?"

For some odd reason that Harry wouldn't explain, he wasn't really scared of what was about to happen. He knew that he should be scared out of his wits but he just wasn't. He was completely helpless in the situation and these death eaters were about to perform the killing curse on him. Anybody would be scared in this situation seeing as he was about to die in the next thirty seconds and yet he actually put a smile on his face and had to hold back from laughing. Of the many emotions he was experiencing, fear was the furthest from it.

"Your mouth just got you killed, Potter. My master won't get the pleasure of killing you!" The death eater yelled in fury. Just as the death eater raised his wand to kill Harry, he yelled on last thing for Mrs. Weasley to hear.

"I love you, Mrs. Weasley. Tell Ginny I love her and that I will be back to her as soon as I can."

"Avada Kedavra"

The burst of green light filled the train station and it connected with Harry. Blackness immediately passed through him. Mrs. Weasley heard a body hit the floor and knew that Harry was dead. She heard one of the death eaters mutter "damn" though and was curious as to why. The last thing she heard was the popping of apparition and knew that they had left her. She laid on the concrete floor along with the two dead death eaters feeling like her life had just ended. How could she face her daughter and tell her that her Harry was dead and would never return to her?

A/N: I know that a lot of stories leave cliffhangers but this has got to be on of the better cliffs. I told you that there would be much more action in this chapter I don't think I disappointed. I think some of you are going to be upset with me after the next chapter and heck you probably are right now but I just like what I have got written. The end is coming much closer I'm sorry to say. Once again I am now asking for reviews. I have 25,000 hits and yet only 53 posts. That is not a good ratio of posts to hits. I am begging for reviews. Tell me that you hate me if you want!


	20. News From Hell

Chapter 20: News from Hell

Mrs. Weasley felt like she had been lying there for days when finally she heard somebody say 'enervate' from above her. She immediately looked to where Harry had been and saw nobody laying there. Anger and sadness rushed through her body; not only had they killed him, they took his body with them. Harry deserved to be given a proper burial and ceremony with all of the people that cared about him there. Instead Voldemort was probably going to use his body in one of his upcoming attacks as a joke to their side. No, she couldn't think about that any longer or she was sure to lose it and she needed to stay calm right now.

"Are you alright, Molly?" came the voice that had awoken her from behind her. She turned to see Tonks giving her a very worried look.

"No, I am as far from alright as a person can be. We need to get to Hogwarts now. Something horrible has happened and I need to speak to Dumbledore as quickly as possible." She noticed that there was no life behind her voice. How could this have happened? Ginny was going to be crushed along with Ron and Hermione.

"Alright, we'll apparate to Hogsmeade and then walk to the castle. It is the quickest way there is because of the wards." It was clear that Tonks had no idea what had happened but could see the seriousness in the situation because of Molly's behavior. Two pops announced their departure.

They appeared in Hogsmeade and began to walk to the castle in silence. Molly noticed Tonks giving her worried glances but wasn't really concerned with it. She didn't want to have to tell this story too many times so she could just wait and here when she told Dumbledore. That one time would be hard enough. That talk though would be nothing compared to when she would have to tell Ron, Hermione and Ginny that their best friend is dead. As hard of a time as she was having controlling herself over this; she knew that it would be at least twice as hard for the three of them. They made their way into the castle and to the headmaster's office. Tonks knew the password because she was currently on duty at Hogsmeade to protect the castle and would have to make reports to Dumbledore all year long. Dumbledore appeared very shocked to see Molly in his office.

"It is nice to see you, Molly. To what do I owe this pleasure?" He gave her a small smile and sat down behind his desk.

"I am not here for pleasure I am afraid. I have the worst news to tell you that you could possibly imagine. The death eaters have been successful in killing Harry. They attacked the train station and captured me. Harry gave himself up so that I could live. He dropped his wand and they attacked him." Tears pored out of her eyes as she thought about the events that had led to his death. Tonks was in a shocked silence and Dumbledore appeared to be lost in thought.

"Did Voldemort kill him or was it a death eater?" That wasn't the question that she expected to hear from him. What the heck did it matter who killed him? The important thing was that somebody did in fact kill him.

"It was a death eater. He hit the floor dead though so what it matter who killed him. That fact is that he is dead, I couldn't care less who killed him!" She was trying to keep her temper in check but was losing that battle now.

"You are correct of course; it is not the issue here. The train will be arriving soon, would you like to stay and see your children? They will need you for this."

She nodded her head and took a seat beside Tonks. She still looked to be in shock and was just staring straight into her hands. Molly looked up at Dumbledore again and he was once again lost in deep thought. She felt like there was something that she was missing that he had thought of and was trying to decipher what it meant. He didn't appear to be nearly as sad as she thought he would or should be considering the information that she had just told him. They waited in the office in dead silence for before they heard three pairs of feet climbing the stairs outside the office. The door opened to see the worried looking faces of Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. They looked relieved to see her in the room and it saddened her to know that she would have to break all of their hearts in a matter of minutes. She saw the worry return to their faces when they noticed the absence of Harry and she could feel her own heart break in half.

"What is going on, Mom? Where is Harry and why are you here?" said Ginny. She looked like a lost puppy with the worry that was masking her face.

"Take a seat all of you." They sat down in a couch across from Molly and Tonks that Dumbledore had added to the office for the occasion. "The attack on the train was a success for the death eaters. One of the death eaters killed Harry. I am very sorry." Dumbledore looked sad to be telling them this but still didn't appear to be very down on the situation.

Ginny saw Hermione collapse into Ron and Ron looking lost. Ginny felt like somebody had just ripped her heart straight out of her chest. She had grown so close to Harry and now he was gone forever. She thought that they would be together for the rest of their lives and now they were separated in a matter of minutes. What was the point in living any more now? The person that she loved was gone. The person that actually made her look forward to the next day during these horribly depressing times had just left her life. There now wasn't anything to look forward to. If she died, then she could join him in the after life and be happy again. No more worrying about Voldemort. They could just love each other like they had never had the chance to do in this life. The damn prophecy did this to them. Wait! The prophecy! There was a little hope left.

"Who killed him? Was it Voldemort?" _Please say no! Please say no!_

"No, it wasn't him. A death eater did it," her mother replied. Why did people keep asking who killed him? Then she saw a smile come onto her daughter's face and she was completely confused. Why were people acting like this when Harry had just been killed?

"How can you smile, Ginny? Your boyfriend is dead! My best friend is dead and you are smiling! Do you even care that he is gone?" Ron screamed at his sister. Still she held the smile on her face.

"Don't you understand, Ron? Harry isn't dead! Only Voldemort can kill him. The prophecy says that neither can die except by the hand of the other." Nobody else brightened at her idea but Dumbledore who gave her a smile and nod.

"It doesn't matter what the prophecy said Ginny. People can't survive the killing curse. Harry did it before because his mother died for him but since nobody could give him that protection this time, he is dead," replied Ron nastily. He got up and left the office along with Hermione. Mrs. Weasley got up as well and gave her daughter a hug and kiss on the forehead before whispering 'he said he would come back to you' in her ear and leaving the office. Ginny was now alone with Dumbledore.

"Please tell me that you believe me. I don't know what I will do if I have to accept that Harry isn't coming back to me." Dumbledore looked down at her with such sorrow she nearly shuddered in fear of his answer.

"My thoughts are the same as yours. I would guess that he passed out when hit with the curse. Unfortunately, even if this is the case, he is now captured. I also don't believe that we will have much luck convincing people that he is alive. I hope for your sake that your friends will believe you after a while though. As to when he will awaken and try to return to us, I have no answer. It took Voldemort ten years to return. We will have to have patience and I have no guarantee that he will return. Voldemort may kill him when he does awaken. I hope not but I am not going to lie to you about the possibility."

"Aren't you going to search for him? We can't just wait for him to come back!" She could sense the anger heating up and she sat back down to try to calm herself. This wasn't Dumbledore's fault.

"We have been searching for Voldemort since his return and have had no luck. We believe that his headquarters, like ours, is under the Fidelus Charm. Severus has no way of telling us where he is hidden because he is not the secret keeper. We have no choice but to wait. I am sorry."

Ginny left the office feeling like her world was collapsing around her. Her boyfriend was being held captive and there was nothing that they could do for him. Her friends thought that he was dead. It was going to be hard for her to get through this with their help, without them she had no chance. When she entered the common room she saw Ron and Hermione sitting by the fire just holding each other. She had nobody to comfort her like that now. She walked over to them and saw down.

"Look, this is going to be hard on us all but I am going to lose it if you honestly believe that he is dead." She needed to make it clear to them not that he was not dead. She needed them so badly right now.

"If you really believe that, then you are just going to get hurt more when you have to realize he is not coming back. You have to try to move on in your life or you're just going to be depressed for the rest of it," replied Ron. His voice had no emotion in his voice and it made her want to cry.

"Why do you actually believe the prophecy when it comes to Voldemort dying but not when it is Harry? The prophecy works both ways. Dumbledore thinks I am right too."

"In my heart I want to believe you, Ginny. It will crush me though to believe that he is still alive and then to find out he is dead. It is hard to enough to get hurt once let alone twice. We just don't want to get our hopes and get hurt." Hermione sympathized.

"Think that all you want but he is coming back to me. Mom told me he said that right before he sacrificed himself. He knew what he was doing when he gave himself over. If you want to pretend he is dead then I will just have to find new friends."

"No, Gin. Didn't you understand what Hermione said? We think he is alive too. We're just getting our hopes up. We need to stick together to get through this." Finally she didn't want to hurt her brother for how he was acting. She gave him a smile and then walked up to her dormitory hoping that she was going to wake up from a horrible nightmare soon.

A/N: I thought this chapter was going to be really short but it turned out not to be. I know that I said this chapter was going to have action in it but I decided to switch up chapter order. The next one will have plenty of action. Thanks for the great amount of reviews over last chapter. I really appreciated that more than I think you know. I would have had this out sooner but I got more than a little caught up with the NCAA tournament. It has been amazing so far. Next chapter should be out around Wednesday. Please keep up with the reviews. Thanks


	21. BOTE or TEOTB?

Chapter 21: The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning?

Harry awoke and found himself in a dark chamber with no windows or doors. He discovered that his hands were not tied together anymore and rubbed his face. He felt like he had been asleep for an extremely long time. His arms were heavy and when he rubbed his face he discovered that he was sporting quite a full beard. His hair was well past his eyes. He felt more tired than he had ever been in his life.

He took a look around at his surroundings. The walls were a dark greenish brown color and appeared to have mildew growing on them. The ground was cold concrete and had water on it at occasional spots. The ceiling was dark brown and he thought that it was likely that it was the earth, itself. That was when he realized that he was trapped in an underground cellar that probably nobody knew about aside from the death eaters that were keeping watch over him. The only odd thing about the room was an arch that was build into the wall but it was still solid to the point that he couldn't walk through it. There didn't appear to be any way into or out of the room. Harry tried to apparate but as he expected there were anti-apparition wards on the room. He was trapped in a cellar underground. With that thought he fell back to the ground and fell asleep again.

When he awoke this time there was somebody in the room with him. He was joined by Lucius Malfoy. He wore an evil smile on his face and was twirling his wand between his fingers. He looked over at the now conscious Harry and walked over to him.

"My master sensed that you had rejoined the world of the living. Did you enjoy your little nap, Potter?" The snarl on his face was pissing Harry off but he wasn't going to let Malfoy know it.

"Unfortunately, I did not. More unfortunately for you though I am now awake. You will tell me how to get out of this cellar now if you have any value on your life. You tell me now and I will let you live on like I did last time." He wasn't in the mood to play games with him. He wanted to get back to Ginny and the rest of his family. This stupid blonde nitwit in front of him wasn't going to keep him from doing that.

"But, Potter, we have so much to discuss. Don't you want to hear about what has been going on while you have been lying in here unconscious? Or maybe just how long you have been out? Don't you want to know how many of your little friends are now dead? I am sure you would like to know about how my son got the pleasure of killing your little bitch of girlfriend. He tells me she is quite a good lay." Pain soared through him at that comment. There was no way that she could be dead! It just couldn't be true. Clearly his pain showed on his face because Malfoy let out an evil laugh that replaced Harry's pain with red hot fury.

"Believe it boy. Much has happened in the last three years without you. All of your friends have been killed without your help. That is all of them except your friend Ron. He finally saw the only way that he could live and took it. He took on the dark mark a year ago and had the pleasure of killing the mudblood, Granger. There is nothing left for you to return to in your world. Everyone is gone."

"You are a liar!" Harry screamed and Malfoy just laughed harder at his child like behavior. Harry refused to believe anything that he was being told by Malfoy. He couldn't believe that because then there was no point in winning this war. "Ron would never do that to Hermione! He would die before he joined you and your pathetic cause. Unlike you he knows that it is dumb to try to clear out non-pure bloods while following a half-blood." He wasn't sure if he really believed what he was saying but he couldn't show weakness right now. He didn't even really know if it had been three years but that wasn't really the issue right now. He needed to find out how to get out of this room.

"You will watch your mouth when speaking about my master, Potter, or you will have to face the consequences. The dark lord is being most gracious with you. He is allowing me to grant you one chance to join us before being killed. You can join your friend once again and continue to live on while learning magic from the most powerful wizard this world has ever seen."

That was it. Malfoy had been lying to him about how things had been going because he wanted to soften him up so that he would join the death eaters. None of what he had said had really happened! Having Ron as a death eater would make Harry seriously think about joining him, especially if he thought the rest of his friends were dead. This scenario would put his best friend back into his life. At least he hoped that was what was going on and even if Malfoy was telling the truth he would still never join the death eaters. Even if he had nothing left to live for, he had to end this so that everyone else could live on with their lives.

"I will never join you. What are you going to do Malfoy? You can't kill me and you know it. You have had more than one chance to get me and yet you have been the only one close to dying on any of those occasions," Harry replied. The smile was wiped right off of Malfoy's face and replaced by a look of anger.

"But I can let you rot in this cellar for the rest of your life. You have no way out of here without joining the dark side. There is only one wait out of here and you just refused it. You will never see your friends again, Potter."

Malfoy turned around and began to walk towards the arch. Harry smiled and the snapped his fingers. Malfoy's wand went flying into Harry's hand. He turned around in total shock at the sudden turn of events. For the first time in the meeting, terror had made its way onto Malfoy's face.

"Avada Kedavra." The spell hit Malfoy in the chest and he fell to the floor dead. Malfoy had been killed by his own wand despite Harry being the caster. No sooner had he hit the ground then there was another person entering the cellar through the archway. As soon as the person set foot into the room, Harry knew who it was. His face was hidden by his hood but it didn't matter. Lord Voldemort had joined Harry in the cellar. Harry looked into the red eyes that had stolen his childhood from him. A hatred that he had never felt cut through him.

"I believe that I mentioned that sending death eaters my way was only leading them to their deaths. Obviously you didn't take me nearly as seriously as you should have, Tom," Harry sneered coldly.

"However, they were quite successful in getting you stuck in your current little predicament. Tell me did you believe in what Malfoy had to tell you? Did you even entertain the thought for a second?"

"Even if I had, I never would have joined you. My mother was a 'mudblood' as was your father. Unlike you, I am not evil. I would never kill somebody that wasn't attacking me or any other innocent person. Now you tell me, Tom, how do I leave here?"

It was eerie to him how this conversation was being held like they didn't hate each other; as if one of them wasn't about to kill the other one.

"You must have the dark mark on your arm. It is the only way to make it through the archway, which is the only way out of here. I believe that leaves you with quite the predicament."

Harry was crushed. The only way he could get back to Ginny was by joining Voldemort. She would never accept him if he did that. He would rather rot in this cell than kill one innocent person. That would crush Ginny though. There had to be some way to get around this whole mess but his magical sense was telling him that there really was no other way to get out of this cell.

"How about we make a deal, Potter? You take on the dark mark and then we duel. If you defeat me then you are free to leave and will have control of my army. If you were to disband them, they could do nothing about it. However, if you lose to me, you must join me. Your first task would be to kill your precious Ginny." Voldemort gave him an evil sneer to show the pure genius behind this plot for him.

Deep down Harry knew that this was the only way that he could make it out of this alive and still get back to Ginny. However, if he lost and then had to kill the love of his life, he didn't know what he would do. He was very confident that he could win the duel but even then would Ginny accept him while he carried the dark mark? Even with the negative of having to kill her, he knew that this was the only way out. If he refused, Voldemort could just leave him down in this cell to rot. He said the hardest words that he had ever had to mutter in this life.

"You have a deal. I will take the mark."

Harry waited and prepared his mind for the battle that was about to take place. The fight that he was about to take part in would decide the rest of his life. He knew that it was going to come eventually but it still seemed strange now that it was finally upon him. He needed to be fully concentrated if he wanted to win this and he knew he had to. The prophecy meant nothing to him now. This fight was no longer for just him. He had to do this to protect Ginny. If he died in the process of this fight, so be it, but he had to take Voldemort with him. Beyond everything else, he had to make sure that Ginny stayed safe. Voldemort returned with the brand and Harry lifted his left sleeve up.

"Just get it over with."

Voldemort wore an evil smile as he touched the burning metal to Harry's skin. Harry felt the burning of the skull on his arm but it caused him no physical harm. Emotionally it tore him to pieces knowing that he would never be able to get rid of it.

"Now we fight. If I stun you then I win. You have to kill me to win. Are you ready to join me, Potter?"

Harry answered by bowing and then the fight for his life started. They both began hurling hexes at each other that were easily deflected away. They spent ten minutes throwing them back and forth trying to learn each others' weaknesses. Neither one could manage to get anything past the other's shield. Neither of them even had a scratch on their body.

Harry decided it was time to change tactics and created two lions out of thin air. They immediately began to attack Voldemort. If he couldn't get a spell past his shield then he would just have to try a new method. Voldemort was able to kill both lions quite easily but it allowed Harry to land the first blow. He hit him with a cutting curse right on shoulder. Blood exploded from his arm. Harry threw two more cutting curses, one of which hit him in the left leg. Voldemort fell to the ground in pain and shot a spell at Harry but nothing happened. Harry was confused and he was able to send a second spell at him because of this slow reaction. It missed him but then all of the sudden Harry had a pain in his right leg and fell to the ground. He turned to see a mirror behind him that Voldemort had obviously made with the first spell. He snapped his fingers and the mirror was gone but when he looked back, Voldemort had his wand right in Harry's face.

He was going to lose. The past sixteen years of his life were going to be gone. He would have to join the death eaters and then kill the love of his life. That thought put a little bit of fight back into him and spun quickly away before Voldemort could get him with the stunner. He now had an opening and shot the full body bind curse at him. Voldemort fell to the ground trapped.

Harry stood and looked down at the man that had made his life a living hell. Harry had killed three people and he knew that the fourth would be his last.

"You were a crazy, power hungry wizard, Tom. That is all over now. You deserve this and you know it. Good by Tom Riddle. I think I will take you out the muggle way." He conjured the sword of Gryffindor and plunged into the neck of the last remaining descendent Salazar Slytherin. Finally this craziness about a wizard's blood could be over and Harry could finally live his life, really live it. He walked through the archway and apparated out of the underground lair to the only home that he had ever known, the Burrow.

A/N: That was quite a lengthy chapter. The story is not over yet if that is what you are thinking. I know the main point of it is over but there are still a couple chapters left to go. I hope the fighting scene wasn't too horrible. I did the best that I could and hopefully it won't drag the story down. Thank you to all of my reviewers. Look for chapter 22 this weekend hopefully.


	22. A Long Three Years

Chapter 22: A Long Three Years

It had been three years since the day that Ginny had been told that Harry Potter died at King's Cross Station. Each day seemed like a lifetime long. She didn't understand how she was managing to live anymore. The first year had been hard, but that was when she believed Harry to still be alive. Dumbledore had confirmed that he also thought Harry was just being held prisoner that day but after a year of waiting for any news; it was getting hard to believe that that man she loved was ever going to come back into her life. Even if he had lived through that day, what were the chances that he was still living after being prisoner for a year? Her mother had seen the green light impact with Harry and yet she still believed him to have lived though that. But Harry was just a human. How many times could he take that curse and still come out breathing?

It was at the two year anniversary of that day that Ginny officially gave up on the idea of ever seeing Harry alive again. Her family and friends deemed her crazy for taking two years to come to the conclusion that they had drawn the second they heard what Mrs. Weasley had said. The day she officially gave up was by far the worst day of her life. She felt like she had lost part of herself and in truth she had. Harry was her life before he was taken away from her. To officially let him go meant that she was officially letting go of much of her life. The next year Ginny still hadn't moved on. Given up? Yes, she had done that, but she had not gotten on with her life. She wasn't seeing anybody and she had no interest in getting with anybody.

Her mother worried over her constantly as she was now just a shell of the person that she had been when Harry was around. While Harry was like a seventh son to Molly Weasley, it was nothing compared to how her daughter felt about him. It was a hard situation for Molly to be in though. She knew that her daughter needed to move on and try to get on with the rest of her life. Harry wouldn't want her to waste away working in her brothers' joke shop and having absolutely no social life anymore. That being said it was difficult for Molly to actually suggest that Ginny move on and try to find a new man in her life. She didn't want her daughter to make a life with anyone but Harry. If the truth were to be told she had dreamed of the wedding between the two since she had been truly introduced to him after Ron's first year at Hogwarts. When they had actually gotten together she was ecstatic. Now it was almost worse that they had because Ginny was left broken. She had gotten a taste of her dreams and then they had been snatched away so cruelly.

Her youngest son and best friend of Harry was doing better but struggled for a good while after hearing the news. Ron had fallen into depression immediately after finding out the news. He at least had Hermione to lean on for help, though she was in rough shape over it as well. They tried to be there for Ginny as much as they could but it had been hard for the couple years when she had denied any possibility that Harry was dead. Ron and Hermione had pretty much stuck to themselves as it was too hard to hear those things from Ginny. They were able to come to terms with the death of their friend much quicker than Ginny. It allowed them to really be a crutch for Ginny in the last year since she had finally given up hope. It had crushed Ron to see his sister so broken hearted but he knew he had to help her so that she could continue living their lives.

The Weasley family was currently gathered in the cemetery in Godric's Hollow standing in front of the graves of the Potter family. They were joined by Lupin, Tonks, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Dumbledore. While all there except for Ginny and Dumbledore had been able to come to terms with Harry's death, it was this day that brought them all back to the sadness that they had once been in. Today was the third anniversary of the day that Harry had been taken and now officially referenced as murdered by Death Eaters. There was no service held, no words spoken, just simply a group of people lost in their thoughts over the strongest and bravest young man that any of them had ever known. Ginny was trying to stay strong and keep the tears back but had finally lost the battle. She collapse on to her knees and buried her head in her hands as the grief of the man she had lost returned. Ron bent down and pulled her into his chest. He pulled her back up to her feet and started to lead her away from the graves.

"It's time for us to get back home I think," whispered Ron into Ginny's ear as he gave her a kiss on the forehead. Hermione followed right behind them and caught up taking Ron's free hand into her own. He looked at her and gave her a half-hearted smile that didn't come near reaching his eyes.

"It will get better Ginny. I know you don't believe us but eventually you will learn to live with it," comforted Hermione. Ginny pulled her tear stained face out of Ron's chest and glared at the older girl.

"How can you say that? You don't know what it feels like to lose what I did! You still have Ron to hold you when you need it. You can see him anytime you want, Hermione! I will never see Harry again for the rest of my life! I won't ever have some one to love me and love him right back again!" screamed Ginny getting extremely red in the face and pulling away from Ron as she raged at Hermione. Ron fought to keep his sister under control of his grasp.

"We know it's hard, Ginny. We know you don't want to move on with your life because you feel like you would be cheating on him. Do you really think Harry would want you living like this though, Ginny? He wouldn't want you constantly beating yourself up. He would want you to try to be happy; to move on. You have to try, Ginny." Ron told her trying to calm down. He could see the pain on her face at the idea of moving on to somebody new.

"I can't Ron. Why can't you understand that? How am I supposed to move on try being with somebody else when I know I won't feel anything for them? I can't be with somebody knowing what love really feels like, Ron." Her voice got gradually lighter as the tears began running down her cheeks again.

Ron and Hermione could both see just how broken the girl in front of them was. Ron would have done anything to take the pain away and put on himself but he knew there was no way that he could do it. There was no way that he could bring Harry back to his sister and that meant that he couldn't take that pain away. He pulled her back into a tight hug and turned to Hermione and gave her a nod of the head. She nodded back looking helpless and apparated away back to the Burrow. Ron holding tightly to his sister was gone with a pop a second after. He led Ginny up the stairs and into her room, laying her down on to the bed. She fell asleep amongst her tears within a minute. Ron covered her up with the comforter and left the room shutting the door behind him. He had no idea how to help his sister and it killed him.

Ginny awoke to the sound of a loud popping noise from outside of her window. It was dark out now so she wasn't able to see anything that could have caused the loud noise but something in her mind was telling her it was not the result of something minor happening, like a tree branch breaking, but rather that something was outside that wasn't normally there. It wasn't the feeling of something dangerous, but just a feeling of extreme curiosity. She got out of bed and crept down the stairs and out the front door making as little noise as possible. It was a chilly night and she had not thought to put anything over her nightgown in her rush to see what had caused the disturbance. She wrapped her arms close to her chest to hold in warmth and began walking down the pathway in front of the Burrow.

She did not fear any kind of attack because for some reason the Death Eaters had suddenly stopped their attacks after Harry had been captured. It was something that nobody could explain but was one of the things that gave her hope that Harry was alive for those first couple of years. Now she just thought that Harry must have killed Voldemort before being killed himself; at least that was what she hoped.

As she continued walking she finally saw a figure walking her way down the path. She couldn't make out who it was, just that he had long hair and it appeared quite a long beard as well. As he got slightly closer she could see that he looked quite thin and weak as he had a slight limp as though he was not used to walking much. Suddenly the figure stopped but Ginny continued to move closer as she was dying to know who was walking down her lane this late at night. She was clutching her wand in her right hand just in case this person decided to attack. Then the man spoke and all it did was throw Ginny into a more confused state than she was already in.

"Ginny is that you?" the voice was weak but all the same she recognized it right away.

"Harry…you're dead," she got out before darkness overcame her and she fell to the ground unconscious.

A/N: So I know that I haven't updated this story for like 2 years or something like that but I got bored and didn't have anything else to do and figured I would actually finish it off. Sorry for the extremely long wait even though anybody that reads this will probably not realize there was a wait as the original readers probably gave up on this story and understandably so. But there is only like one or two chapters left so I figured I should have some self-respect and finish it.


	23. Finally Free

Chapter 23: Finally Free

Ginny woke up in disappointment. She was all alone in her room and the sun peaking through the window told her it was morning. It had all been a dream. Nobody had come to the Burrow last night. She had not gone outside to check who it was. Harry Potter was not alive and finally returned to her. She was still completely alone in this world.

She lay back down and closed her eyes to try and get some more sleep. It was going to be a long day that she didn't want to face yet. Obviously the three year anniversary of Harry's death had brought the memories back in full force and then led to her hopeful dream. She once again fell asleep to her depressing thoughts of missing her love.

Somebody was pushing on her shoulder and whispering her name trying to wake her up. She rolled over so that her back was to whoever was pushing her shoulder. The person just grumbled and then continued trying to shake her awake. Frustrated Ginny smacked back behind her and it felt like smacked her waker in the face. She then reached for her wand on the bedside table and flung her famous bat-bogey hex to which she heard a loud yell of pain. Immediately her door was thrown open.

"Ginny what the heck are you doing! Why would you attack him after all this time?" Mrs. Weasley sounded furious with her daughter. Her eyes were blazing with fury and confusion. The second emotion made her quite curious. Why was it a big deal that she would curse her brother? She did it all the time when they made her mad.

"What are you talking about mom? I curse Ron all the time. He should have left me alone. If I want to sleep all day then I will." Ginny replied, her anger rising. It didn't take much to get her temper high these days.

"What's going on here? Harry say the wrong thing?" came Ron's voice from the doorway.

Ginny's eyes bugged and she looked down to see Harry still battling the bat-bogeys on his face. It wasn't a dream! She fell to the ground beside him and pulled him into her arms. She didn't think she would ever see him again and here he was in her bedroom. He was alive after all and had come home to her. What had taken so long then? It didn't matter though right now. She just wanted to enjoy having him in her arms again.

"Help, Gin!" Harry yelled at her.

"Oh, right sorry." She quickly muttered the counter curse. Harry stopped swatting at his face and looked up and Ginny. A smile came across both of their faces as they looked into the others' eyes for the first time in three years. Ginny heard the soft click of the door closing and looked up to see that her mom and brother had left Harry and her alone in the room.

"How is this possible? You are supposed to be dead, Harry." Ginny asked as she turned to look back into his green eyes.

"It wasn't Voldemort that sent the curse that day at the train station. It's all the magic that is between our blood and wands that it had to be one of us to kill the other. His death eater didn't have ability to kill me. His curse just knocked me into a coma for three years. I just woke up yesterday and managed to escape today."

"Is it over? Is Voldemort dead? There haven't been any attacks since they took you that day. Nobody understands why."

"He and all his death eaters have been in an underground layer waiting for me to come around. When I finally did Voldemort came to see me right away. We made a deal. If he were to beat me then I would be forced to become a death eater. My first task would have been to…to…kill you."

Fear suddenly struck Ginny. Is that why he came here? To kill her? She slowly began edging away from him and trying to get back to her wand that she had set on her bed. Harry saw the fear and immediately pulled her closer to himself.

"He didn't win Ginny. I came here on my own."

She smiled at him and stopped fighting to get away. "What was your part of the deal then?"

"I got control of the death eaters," he told her with a smile. At her questioning look he explained further. "They are all currently sitting in cells in Azkaban. There is absolutely nothing they can do against what I tell them to do. Voldemort gave me that power before we started the duel."

"So it's completely over? No death eaters. No Voldemort. How does it feel to be free of that burden?"

"How do I feel? Tired," Ginny laughed and rested her head on his chest. "Seriously though, I'm just happy to be able to be with you again. I can't even imagine how hard the last three years have been for you and your family."

"Oh Harry you have no idea. Dumbledore convinced me that you were alive and I believed him for two years but it just got so hard. After getting no positive signs, no clues as to where you were I just couldn't keep telling myself you were alive. That was the worst day of my life. When I finally decided that you must be dead. I didn't need a dementor to feel like I would never be happy again. I thought a part of me had died." Tears were streaming down her face now as she told him the feelings she had gone through. "I never even thought about moving on though. I knew you were it for me and that if you were gone then I would be alone the rest of my life. Anybody else would just feel wrong. I love you so much Harry." Harry had tears coming down his cheeks now as well.

"I love you to Gin." He hugged her tight with her head in the notch of his neck. "There's something I have to tell you that you aren't going to like. It makes my own stomach upset."

She looked at him curiously as he began pull up the sleeve on his left arm. He turned his arm so the inside was facing Ginny and she gasped at the ugly tattoo that she saw. Her Harry had the dark mark. He really was here to kill her. She jumped back and grabbed her wand standing on the opposite of her bed as Harry now. Her wand was drawn directly on him as he stood up and faced her confusion and hurt etched on his face.

"You really are here to kill me then. Keep your hands where I can see them. I still remember that you can do wandless magic."

"No, Ginny let me explain. He forced me to take it. It was part of the deal. Do you think I would show it to you if I was here to kill you? I would have done it already. Remember you passing out last night? I could have killed you then quite easily and nobody would have had the slightest bit of an idea that I was ever here." Her wand fell down slightly and her posture became much less defensive.

"Ok so why do you have it then? If you won you shouldn't have had to get it."

"It was the only way to leave the room I was trapped in. It had an archway and the only way to go through it was if you had the dark mark. I had to get it before the duel so that when I won I could leave."

"I'm sorry. It's not that big of a deal Harry. I still love you. It's the intent that matters anyway."

Harry walked over to her and pulled her back into his arms. He kissed her on the forward and started to pull her towards the door. "Come on let's get some lunch"

"I want to have you alone for awhile though. Lunch can wait." She tried to stop him but he kept their momentum heading to the door.

"We'll have plenty of time, Gin. Voldemort I can handle, but I'm not sure about all of your brothers."

A/N: So it's finally over. Should have been done a long time ago but I got busy with college. At least I finally did it though. Thanks for everyone that reviewed. Sorry for the long breaks.


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